Remembering to Breathe

Occasionally,
I forget how to breathe
How to sit quietly
and let my mind seethe

Against all the walls I've put up
by my others' volition, or my own
I'm never completely sure
When I find myself alone

When light dissolves
into a starlight sky
when hands grow cold
after waving goodbye

When all has been said
but nothing has been done
and the mischief makers
have had their fun

When silence falls
like a blanket of snow
on the tips of mountains
and into the valleys below

When my only companion
is my own mind
My thoughts and my words,
no longer confined

Behind cold metal bars
so strict and unrelenting
Unless the fire's heat
lets them resume their lamenting

for the caged birds
locked in my head
until they are either
written or said.

So for now, I calmly sit
and take my reprieve
from daily life
and remember to breathe.