Holding my breath

O I willingly stake all for you
~Whitman

I am counting sunsets
and numbering the hours of sleep

love has gone utterly off
and the way back in is lost.

Silent, I hope for occasional
confirmation that I can keep

hope alive. If only she would
poke her head out from under

the covers and see that I am
undressed, have left everything

at the door, even my skin has been
peeled and left on the floor.

Pain and more pain. For what lies
down seems to never rise.

~ Sean Wiebe

Sean Wiebe is an assistant professor of language and literacy at the university of Prince Edward Island. His papers and poetry appear in a variety of journals and book chapters in the areas of the arts, teacher education and curriculum studies. Recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Journal of Educational Thought, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, Standards, JAAACS, The Windsor Review, Poetry Friends, Apt, Inscribed, Blue Skies, and Arabesques.

One Response to “Holding my breath”

  1. This is a beautiful poem. thank you.

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