Focus

Breathe.
Focus on your breath.
Long, deep, breaths.

Inhale peace slowly
through your nose.
Savor the aroma of tranquility.  
Let the warm calm fill you.

Ignore the tickle in your nose.
Focus on your breath.
Long, deep, breaths.

Exhale stress like demons
conjured from within
and expelled past your lips
with a windy exorcism.

Do not engage.  Do not engage.
Focus on your breath.
Long, deep – wait, where are you going?

Empty your mind.
No emails. No deadlines.
Ignore the desperate appeals
to assist under duress.

Let them and your guilt wait.
Focus on your breath.
Long, deep –  close your damn eyes.

Don’t hear distractions,
your growling stomach or dog,
your beeping phone or the truck
delivering who knows what.

Come back to your breathing.
Focus on your breath.
Long, deep – how long has it been?

Forget all your worries,
and those you worry about.
The what ifs and scenarios
that run wild on repeat.

I can’t.
Focus on your breath.
Long, deep – this is… impossible.

Block out voices whispering,
“you can’t blow me away”,
so loudly you can’t focus
on your long, deep, breaths.

– smj