Lake Sara

If you want to remember what it feels like to be alive,
Take a deep breath,
And concentrate on the feeling in your chest,
Just beneath the sternum.

After YHWH formed Adam from the red clay,
He breathed a hole into his inside, and said,
"I will dwell within you,
"Until I do not."

A breath
Is more pleasant than chocolate,
More satisfying than sex,
More refreshing than a cold drink of water.

A year ago today
I slipped with my friend Chad down the algae-slicked boat ramp
Into the warm water,
Where we floated like newborn babes.

Baptized again and again,
Taking deep gasps of air at the surface,
Blowing our cheeks out in big, bulging bubbles
As we floated, full-clothed, in the warm waters of July.

The Supermoon came up from the East,
And I cried in your lap for the first time.
How many breaths have we breathed since then, Baby,
In this new life?

Close your eyes.
Breathe deep through your nostrils,
Go deeper than you dare to dive.
Feel God in the bottom of your bloated belly.

Beneath the still water,
Hear the beating heart.
Give thanks to the Lord
Who dwells in breath and dirt.