Breath

Somedays it is hard.

But always it is like breathing
Like a heartbeat
Effortless. Needed. An inevitability
Of life. Of physics
Constant gravity. Tides pulled
By lunar astronomy

An ever presence that is so
Natural to being that
On the good days we forget
But for deep inhaling
Of casual joy. Of knowing.

On bad days, though, we suck in
Of fear that we would suffocate
That we would drown
Lungs spasm. Blood and heart
And thence brain deoxygenated
Without it.