A Poem: Breath

Did I breathe today?

Did I remember how the breath,
the very air

we draw in and release,
is the same as

the undergirding prayer,
the flow in which we live.


Did I breathe
and take each molecule,

this oxygen to drive
the heart,

for granted,
forget the wealth of it,

the abundance in the gift.


Did I breathe,

remember the breath,
the very air

we live and walk in,
move like one swimming,

forgetting how our buoyancy,
is a requisite for life.


Did I breathe,

and did I remember how my
very breath out, in,

is prayer,
and remember how much closer still

is the one in whom we live.


Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
August 2020