i hope my words are strange and wondrous,

like kisses that quiet all things superfluous,

so that we can all stop and

listen

think of a heartbeat,

on a monitor

the line, as it stays, jumps, drops, jumps, stays, jumps, drops, jumps, stays

the motion of a heart as it pumps

dum. dum. dum.

waiting for the next muscle contortion,

waiting for the drawing in, and the releasing,

the dum.

the dums are necessary for living,

but its not because they are dums.

think about it.

dum.

there.

see the space?

in between the two jumps there's a long stays.

the dum is an indication that you are still alive, still fighting,

but it is the line in between, that keeps you so.

the rush of blood, full of oxygen back into your body.

heartbeats should be dum. whoosh. dum.

right now i am in a whoosh.

and im learning the excitement of the whoosh.

not the loud contraction of the strongest muscle,

but the steady moving of the blood stream,

carrying what the body needs most to where it needs to be.

like a cell in the vein, im knocking at the bone doors,

"mister, how would you like 2 bags of oxygen today?"

"ma'am you seem to be in need of a particular amount"

just moving and moving,

returning to stock,

powering off of a dum.

this is the dead time.

this is the flat line.

life is lived mostly on the stays.

and it seems rather self-inflicting,

to look forward only to the short-lived, occasional jumps.

note the "only"

i'm in it for the pulse,

for the entire rhythm,

and i know the space between the dums

makes all the difference.

so why not embrace all of the heartbeat?