Breathe Deep

“And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.”-Acts 2:2

I found out my lungs

didn’t work right

in the middle of the night

when I was seven.

I woke up gasping

with a cinder block

on my chest.

My parents were quiet and frantic

in sweat-pants and bathrobes,

careful to keep the noise down

while my sister slept.

I remember getting into the minivan

then being on a table

with a cold stethoscope

against my bare skin,

the doctor telling me

to take deep breaths

moving his instrument

up and down my back and chest.

He turned to my parents

and tried to explain,

with big words

I didn’t recognize

and the gesture

of an open hand

closing into a fist.

The doctor left the room

and brought back an inhaler,

holding it to my lips

the palm of his other hand

on the back of my rib-cage

he said slowly:

“I want you

to try

and breath

deep”