Breath

A poem

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Sweat runs through her hair in droplets
Coursing downward from her face
Heat is sultry velvet to her skin
Touchable air, thick its stroke wets
Lungs feel emptied, breath sucked out
As she lies spent then gasps rising
To snatch what life she can
Into the frailness of her frame

She reaches for breath to draw in
Through the splutters, every rasp
Fills with oxygen once again then wait
Shallow fast lifts of her ribs
Until the next rising in gasps
To snatch what life she can

Published in The Lark