Air We Breathe

(a poem)

You exhale. 

I inhale. 

I breathe out. 

You breathe in. 

The air we breathe

is all the same.

That which 

fills our lungs,

feeds our blood,

gives us life

is the essence 

we share. 

With each breath 

we breathe 

we take in the air 

of the ancients. 

The particulates it contains 

hold the core 

of all that has ever lived,

of all that has ever been. 

We are a part of their story;  

they are a part of ours.

You are a part of my story;

I am a part of yours.  

That which we believe

separates us;

that which we say

differentiates me from you;

that which we claim

is vital to our being

pale in comparison 

to that which we share. 

This air we breathe. 

You 

and 

me

and this air 

we breathe.