we breathe

we breathe fire in the nighttime,
and the waking world recoils.
we breathe hatred in our own minds:
we breathe, we breathe, we breathe.
leave it all in balled up sheets,
in sweaty, sodden socks,
leave yourself in a million magazines,
read and discarded, hardly appreciated
at all. let the world
leave its mark on you and be
subsumed, entombed in knowledge
and unable to break away from it.
worry about your job, about your
friends, about your family. let the world
put its leash on you. we breathe in
hope and breathe out frustration. we
breathe in love and breathe out fear.
we breathe in nerves, temptation,
anticipation, sacrifice, stupidity,
and we breathe out
all that we can. we breathe out
as much as possible, trying not
to hold our breath too long. what
we breathe at night, though, that
is what we should strive to be. that
is what is purest. that is who
we already almost are.