Hyperventilating.

A flash of memory distilled to a thought-

A lie, recognized

And needed to be relived

So it could be replaced

With truth

I hate this.

Hyperventilating and deep breathing

They are extremes

Of desperately trying to find homeostasis

One just feels better and is more apt to succeed

Homeostasis is hiding at the end of the brown paper bag

And underneath the yoga mat

That’s the real lie

The truth is those lies

The flash of memory

Never belonged to me in the first place

It was borrowed

From someone else’s hyperventilating

And deep breathing

Homeostasis is a very old place

The return of address

Would never reach me

I’m far too gone now

Replaced someone else’s fear

With Someone else’s strength

Replaced someone else’s sin

With Someone else’s embrace

Not borrowed, freely given

Makes the waves of anguish

Flashes of memory shorter lived

And the replacement with hope and rivers of water living

Just as natural as breathing