Precious Breath

My first poem from 2005.

I see the disbelief in their eyes. It stabs like daggers, but I know it is only skin deep...
Darker wounds stand in my path to recovery as I have tried to bandage myself again...
Soon I know it will flood me as rushing waters does...
You swim in your selfish sorrows until currents take you under...
Suddenly I know I am not dreaming...
All my horrors are real...
Invisible bruises scar my jagged memory, and lies keep my head above water no longer...
Knowing at any time I could sleep and not awake, I inhale slowly as each breath becomes more and more precious...