Ralston

today I learned
that when Aron Ralston was severing his own arm
in that place of unyielding inspiration
we call the desert
he saved the gleaming nerve fibers for last
fearing the unfathomable pain
of that final separation

that gave me hope, I guess
if he could muster the courage
to jimmy a dull knife through inches of searing flesh
to snap his own bone when the time came
then surely I can find a way
to slip out of the confines
of a life that I've outgrown

this would seem the place
to paint some metaphor about a butterfly
emerging and flying triumphantly away
but remember that nature shows
skip to the good parts

and when the butterfly first strains free
of its tomb-like chrysalis
it's exhausted beyond the limits of its
soggy, trembling new body
unable to do anything more than try to breathe
and practice flapping its cumbersome wings

so I'm just going to sit here for a while
and breathe, if I can
and flap, when I have the strength to
and just...
just breathe