the earth warmed up under my feet steam rising from the ground swirling upwards in the sun light like one big exhale and i noticed that my breath only came out in a whoosh no cloud this time and i wondered briefly if i hadn’t died and just forgot about it but a raindrop fell from a water-logged plant and landed on the top of my head buzzed hair not being much protection from water of any kind and i smiled because i was alive ****** i was alive and music was playing loud in my ears i could feel the chill of the wind through my layers and even though my breath made no cloud when it left my mouth i was still breathing my lungs still expanding like a flower that had gone too long without sunlight and i looked up at the gray sky the clouds drifting way up above letting the smells of wet bark dust and sidewalk and plants and trees fill my heart and my head with a little bubble of hope