strikes an anvil in my breast,
mercilessly marking
seconds bleak with helplessness;
the quintessence of being
hinges on a single breath -
just one heart-stopping sliver
between providence and death.
An operating table
Armageddon, fought between
the catafalque and cradle,
the nightmare and the dream
erupts into victorious
starbursts of delight
as newborn lungs triumphantly
