your last breath
is already inside you
tucked into
a pocket of a lung

it’s the one
that entered you
when you were drawn
from your mother

that cry you bawled out then?
that was someone else’s last breath
that had been given to you to hold
until you emerged

how it got
from them to you
although a puzzle
is not your concern

focus here instead:
how sweet the sound
of energy returning
when all was thought lost

who were you
you should ask the next newborn
are you my former angel
are you someone i should know

exhale that
and your questions will settle
where they belong — on the ears of
the past becoming the present