Remember to breathe.
It's so easy to slip one's mind.

So many things to focus on:
leaving home,

becoming oneself,
remaining skeptical,

tossing the rules,
loving, forgiving,

giving a damn,
or not,

all much more difficult
than just inhaling, exhaling or

even the much revered
in the moment breath.

But on this special day
I wish you that elusive breath

of invasive joy, of endurance,
of defiance,

of knowing that permission
is no longer needed,

that irreverent hard-earned breath,
deep and sustaining

in sorrow or celebration
so often paired,

and, of course, that infamous
bird's eye view breath

lifting you sky high as you take off.


© by Anita S. Pulier.
Used with the author's permission.