That it would come down
to the science of breathing
how the lungs receive oxygen
how a pulse becomes stilled
that it would come down
to the compression of an airway
somewhere between the diameter
of a quarter and a dime
shallow breaths the equivalent
of surgical removal of the left lung
trying to breathe with fingers and knuckles
under the force of 90 pounds of pressure
like sipping air through a drinking straw
that it would come down to 12 peers
in chairs palpating their own throats
to feel the pulse beneath their probing
fingers, the tender skin indent
the metric beat of pumping blood
an ear pressed to the ground
prone and pleading
all of us needing the one
who we all came from
who held her breath
spent and waiting
for a newborn to cry
to breathe with life.