Oxygen

Surrounding me

Dancing around me

Swirling and shifting 

Dangling tender morsels

Before my tongue 

And dissipating

The moment I try

To taste the savory, lung-filling, life-giving 

Oxygen 

 

The clouds crawl

Aimlessly 

Across the sky

Taking turns 

To block the ray's

Of the sun-burn-bringing, cancer-causing, life-giving 

Sun

Taking turns 

To protect me

Or to roast me

Like a chicken

On a rotisserie spindle 

Over an open flame

Fed and fueled 

By a dead tree

That once produced 

Oxygen

 

The wind calms

And yet

I cease to hear

Past the tempest 

Violently twisting

Throughout my brain

Wrenching a memory

Out of place 

And discarding it

Amongst the regrets 

The ever-expanding, inwardly-collapsing, life-destroying 

Thrash heap

Packed so tightly 

That there is no room

Between indecision 

And Failure

To fit

Oxygen

 

Stars dance

Before my eyes

Playing with my sight

As a child plays

With a new doll

For a day

Before forgetting

That there was ever 

Any enjoyment 

From the small girl

With yarn hair

And a painted smile 

Who could not breathe

Oxygen

 

I inhale

But experience no satisfaction 

A body wracking sob

Attempts to compensate

For my inability to exhale

As I try 

To find the oxygen

Which has been taunting me

Longer than I can remember 

I begin to wonder

If this feeling

Will ever end

Or if this feeling

Will be my end

Choking on the tears

Flooding down my throat 

Gasping desperately for

The tongue-tantalizing, fire-fueling, tempest-twisting, life-giving

Oxygen