I laid my head down
and took it for granted
that it was a given
that I would keep living
that morning would come
and my heart would keep beating
in counterpoint time to
the rhythm of breathing
and so it was granted—
my consciousness lost,
my body continued
to honour my trust
I rested on forces
I could not control
and now with the light
in my eyes,
I know
that waking up here
on this marvellous planet
is something I cannot
keep taking for granted
it’s granted, but my life
is never a given
and yet—here I am!
because
it is given
Tag: body
On Losing Consciousness In Public
There was a period of years in my life when I randomly lost consciousness. The first time it happened I had just had an eye test, and I woke up on the floor with my head spinning and several blurry women in matching purple uniforms leaning over me. That was strange. Then there was the time my face went straight into my lunch, and the time I just fell over standing in the doorway of the kitchen. There was also the time I gave blood, and once again woke up with the staff leaning over me. Last, but certainly not least, there was the time my wife and I went to a traditional Irish music show. At the end of the evening they called people up from the audience to sing, and they called us, and we tried to say no but somehow we ended up on the stage anyway. We sang, and I was just starting to think we were pulling it off pretty well when I felt the blood leaving my brain. I knew that feeling like an old enemy by then, so I bent over double to encourage that blood to go back where it should have been while still trying to sing and act natural about the whole thing. I do not recommend this as a way to act natural. Thankfully, my wife caught me when I went down. When I woke up I saw sympathetic eyes glancing away from me. I guess most people don’t have a category for how to react to the guy who just collapsed publicly on stage in front of them. Fair enough.
Continue reading On Losing Consciousness In Public
sethlewis.ie 