Saint Julian Press Poet

Fred LaMotte - Author and Poet

A Little More Attention to the Breath

Picture
'Deep Breath' by Diane Varner

 

Attend

the breath.

It is not a metaphor,

 

yet still

it transcends.

 

This last day before death,

how do you attend

each inhalation?

 

With thirst?

With gratitude?

With nakedness?

 

And in the last minute,

how might you breathe

your partner?

 

Through a parting gift

of light, of tears?

 

How might you attend

her face,

the frail and brave

 

new moon

of her lips?

 

It is enough

to have served one another,

 

to have loved,

but now

 

an enormous tide

pulls inward

with the crush of stars

 

no longer weightless with illusion

of distance.

 

Close your eyes.

It is darker than this.

Don't be afraid.

 

It is only the weight of the sun

un-creating itself

with the color of silence.

 

Attend

this breath,

the only work that remains.

 

Attend the final motion

of your blood.

 

This is not a metaphor.

Did you prepare?

Did you practice?

 

Did you ever once rehearse

for such an exhalation?

 

 

 

Fred LaMotte
Copyright 2014

Photo: 'Deep Breath' by Diane Varner

Fred LaMotte is an interfaith college chaplain at The Evergreen State College in Olympia WA, as well as an adjunct instructor in World Religions, teaching college courses through distance learning program for deployed military personal. Fred is a Quaker. He has degrees from Yale University and Princeton Theological Seminary.