Rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall
Her chest should be like an empire — rise and fall.
But lungs no longer expand;  no heart beats.

Bum-bum, bum-bum, bum-bum
The heart-drum should count off the cadence.
But no pulsing thrum, no sigh of exhalation.

And yet, I thought I saw her breathing in the mist upon the glass.

Prompted word was: “I thought I saw her breathing”
Requester was: a sloth
Request method was: Facebook
Author is: Sean Prunka
No copyrights. This poem was released into the public domain by the author.

Author Notes:

This still feels like a work in progress or a first draft. But at the same time, I’m not sure what direction it wants to go from here, so I’m leaving it as-is for now. I may revisit it before publication.