First Breath, Last Wish

First Breath, Last Wish

The first breath came without asking, a cry into borrowed air,

Hands reached in joy, no promise how long I would be here.

Time pressed its quiet fingers into the soft curve of my days,

And every second taken felt like something I must repay.

I learned the weight of laughter, how it lifts then disappears,

How joy can leave a shadow that quietly turns to tears.

Time slips through open hands, no matter how tight they close,

And love is often measured by the pain of what we lose.

The years moved in silence, no warning, no gentle cue,

Faces changed around me, and I changed within them too.

Dreams I once carried now sit like dust on a shelf,

And I wonder which part of me I quietly left behind myself.

There is a truth in endings no one dares to speak aloud,

It waits behind the heartbeat, it stands behind the crowd.

Not cruel, not kind, just certain in the path it keeps,

A promise every waking soul eventually meets.

So I hold this breath a little longer than I should,

As if the act of holding might somehow do me good.

And in this fragile pause between the wish and what is true,

I ask for one more moment that I never thought I knew.

The last wish is never louder than the first breath we take,

It lingers in the silence of every small mistake.

And when the final stillness settles deep inside my chest,

I hope the life I carried somehow gave its quiet best.

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