Breath

... we take it for granted. I’ve been thinking a lot about our respiratory consultant and wondering how she is doing. I say ‘our’ because she treated us both in the most exceptional way. I can barely think of her without crying in gratitude for her astonishing kindness. Seeing this virus and it’s impact brings many reminders. With gratitude for all those, at every level, who are working tirelessly and putting themselves at risk for all of us. We just need to make sure they have everything, everything, including rest and all the support, that they need ... not just now but always.

(p.s. I’ve just realised it’s a blip birthday... thank you too to all that look in and for the Blip community and those who work so hard in the background voluntarily to keep us going
...oh, and this is the wool I gathered yesterday, not knowing it would make the perfect heart today!)

Breath by Don Paterson - translation of Rilke from 'Orpheus'

Breath, you invisible poem -
pure exchange, sister to silence,
being and its counterbalance,
rhythm wherein I become,
ocean I accumulate
by stealth, by the same slow wave;
thriftiest of seas... Thief
of the whole cosmos! What estates,
what vast spaces have already poured
through my lungs? The four winds
are like daughters to me.
So do you know me, air, that once sailed through me?
You, that were once the leaf and rind
of my every word?