Every breath I push through without break
My skin grows callous
Layer upon layer forming with hard labor
Closing airflow passageways
A plaque to the arteries of oxygen
Deliberately chosen by ignoring signals
The changing terrain
Driving forward into the sandpit
Despite feeling the loss of traction
Foot pressing more and more desperately on the accelerator
Too stubborn to turn back and regroup
At the last possible moment I breathe out
A gasping explosion of acceptance
This is not a game of inward-facing Chicken
One breath in
One breath out
And I stay in place
As I elongate my breath out I begin to reverse course
It is twice as hard to go back
Next time I will remember to slow down
Heed the signs
And breathe
