The mechanics of drawing
Just one breath
Are sometimes too much to endure
Nostrils snatch at every string of air
And struggling clutch it comes

Squirming and shoving itself
Down the narrow shaft of the throat
O! - These little lungs
Want for only one small pause
Their task knows no reprieve
Filling up -
Pushing out -
Filling still

Causing this little heart
To pound so fiercely
Against these little ribs
Knocking and banging so terrifyingly
O! - The plea!
The bloodcurdling lament
To have never begun

Tediously shoving bursts of blood
Through its constricted channels
Scrambling and searching
For a lesion, a break in the flesh
Through which to escape
Heart pumping
Heaving in -
Thrusting out -
Heaving still

But stopping once -

Skipping over just one beat
With a pause-

Then struggling to recover
From this fatal encounter
Of catching your look
For just one moment