Doctor, doctor, help. I'm perceiving.

I was made in oaths of frailty
as if my virtues were faulty.
“It’s not that;
we just know how you can be.”

I can be much less.
And I was.
Take faith in that.

A lonely second
brought shaky hands
to cold skin.
“I remember now…
how to breathe.”

Just as I gasped,
a stinging set in.

When muscles twitch
to meet an unsteady
heartbeat,
this is release.

“Is there anything else
you need to talk about?”

“No; not today.”

Right when I fell silent,
words grazed my fingertips
as my lips tasted cement.

No, not today at all.