Adesso, Respiro

I breathe out;
I live my days awake.
I breathe in;
I sleep through the night.

Breathless before,
I envied the art of others,
Gasped in anger at the mirror,
And desperately chased my wages—
My lungs never full.

Panting all those years,
I scented not
The fires in the hearths,
The flowers in the fields,
The danger in the trees,
The delectable repast Life serves its guests.

I walk more slowly now—
And not because age can hinder me yet.
Instead, it propels me with a new sense
Of breath…and of pause…
And of spaces in the mind.

I need no longer to catch my breath;
It stays with me.
And I resolve not to lose it again
For any light cause.