Take a Breath

Take a Breath

I set the candle down inside my chest,

where worry used to pace in heavy shoes.

The flame stands still, not begging for the dark,

it waits, as if it knows I will return.

My body learns again how rest feels earned,

ten percent human, still enough to feel.

The rest is noise that loosens as I lie,

flat with the weight of thinking leaving me.

An eye opens wider than the day allows,

blue holding storms and skies at once inside.

It sees the past drift past like distant birds,

not circling, not asking me to follow.

I breathe and notice how the moment stays,

how nothing rushes when I do not run.

The world grows quieter without demand,

no voice insisting I must be more now.

Light does not chase the dark away with force,

it simply stands and lets the dark decide.

That choice alone becomes a kind of peace,

a lesson learned without a single word.

My thoughts fall back into their proper place,

not gone, just resting where they cannot shout.

I am still here, entirely myself,

enough to watch, enough to let things pass.