Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: BREATH (11/19/20)
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TITLE: Breathe In. Breathe Out. | Previous Challenge Entry
By Gregory Kane
11/25/20 -
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One deep draw down, one euphoric exhalation. In, out, in out: gasp, breathe, relax.
My eyes open to take in a world replete with radiance and innocence. Strong hands hold mine and raise me gently to a sitting position. I gaze in wonder at the face of my creator, the one whose very breath has just filled my lungs, sparking vitality out of inanimate matter.
I rise on shaky legs, yearning to explore this brave new world. What wonders, what goodly creatures, what beauteous design!
.....…....breathe in...…......breathe out....….....
Sun-kissed breasts rise and fall. Dark locks cascade, framing slender arms and delicate throat. My eyes drink in her supine loveliness. Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. In moments she will wake and mine will be the first face she sees. My strong hands will raise her to trembling feet. Hers shall be the lips I greet with a tender kiss, our breaths mingling, our love a testament to the passion and foresight of the creator.
.....…....breathe in...…......breathe out....….....
The agony seems interminable. I listen distressed to her cries, a howl of anguish that rises to a horrifying climax, then fades only to return a few gasps later.
We have seen the process before. In truth, we have studied it in detail, earning the animosity and bared teeth of our chimpanzee neighbour. But nothing has prepared us for the reality.
When it happens it is sudden. One last shriek, then a glistening sack of wriggling limbs slides past glistening thighs to fall into my waiting palms. I pull apart the caul and stare in wonder at this gift the creator has bestowed. Infant orbs lock eyes with mine as we wait for what must surely come. There is a cough. Pale mucus forms into a thick droplet, then falls out of sight. There is a grunt. And then the full fruited bawl of indignation at being dragged unceremoniously from the womb.
.....…....breathe in...…......breathe out....….....
Everything aches. Eyes that drank in the radiance of Eden’s glory have dulled. Ears that delighted in my love’s cries of unbridled curiosity have long since faded. Arms that once tamed the hard ground struggle to lift this fragile shell of a body. Lungs that once resonated with the creator’s quickening draught now pant for every laboured breath.
The end will come soon, I know this. How many of my children’s children have I watched swallowed up in the earth’s unforgiving embrace? This has been an unanticipated facet to my long lamented curse, grieving the young snatched away by death while I pass by seemingly unscathed.
I close my eyes and slumber, recalling once more those heady days in our Arcadian paradise. I breathe out, barely more than a sigh. In. Out. In. Out. In.
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