orbit (from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)

orbit

How the world moves on around you
      in your darkest moments
White noise screams the loudest
      when you are afraid to speak.
How the world moves on around you
      when you move in slow motion,
      notice your unsteady breath.
How the world continues on around you
      when you move in slow motion.
When the air that surrounds your limbs,
     surrounds your body,
     surrounds your fingertips,
     feels more like water;
When your feet turn to stone;
When your scream turns to whisper;
When your body turns to sandcastle;
     let it wash over you,
     but do not wash away with the tide.
You are not built of sand.
     You are brick and titanium and wood.
     You are water and fire,
     built to endure hurricane forces.
Those waves,
     and that wind
        and that pain.
That is the life moving within you,
     within the tides
     and the moons
     ever changing.
That is the proof that you are still alive.
Pain is proof.
Let that be the fuel to your soul.
How the world moves on around you,
     when you are afraid to speak,
         that your lungs might fill with water;
     Steady your unsteady breath.
Come up for air.