really living

you don’t realize that
you’re not really living
until you start
to live again.

your lungs gasp
when you start
to breathe again.

your feet trip
as you start
to stir again.

when you toss the past aside:
the future opens wide, alive
beside the decaying pile
of your old ways,
the lingering haze
of those tried days
that died
when you went
through that phase.

(c) Waifette / SLR / Sandy Lynn Riefberg 2013 All Rights Reserved