I hold my breath
As if it were an eclipse
A dark coin pressed
Against the mouth of the world
Turning everything silver and silent
Inside me
The air becomes an omen
It sharpens
Hardens
Takes the shape of a weapon
I never forged
Yet somehow inherited
My lungs turn to winter vaults
Sealed with frostbitten vows
Even my shadow refuses to move
As though any motion
Might awaken the sleeping metal
Of my own becoming
I stand in that hush
Where myth begins
Where a single breath
Can tilt the axis of a life
Where the body is both altar
And threat
Both prayer
And trigger
And in this suspended moment
I understand
I am not holding my breath
To stay alive
I am holding it
To keep the future
From detonating too soon