life support.

we breathe gentle death.

inhale, exhale.
like lazarus.
only, i've got
morphine running through
these veins.
i'll die a thousand
and two times
before i will let go for good.

what i breathe
is pure.
what you breathe
is only a tad salty.
i am eternal,
if only for the moment.
immobilized,
we could go on forever.

webs are stemming from
inside to out—
or outside to in—
driping life's nectar
into this body.
alchemists sneer:
the Stone
is in this room.

this could go on forever.
saline will stop
filling the air,
eventually.
this broken body,
this iron lung,
this needle
could never end.

but maybe it should.