Breath and Bone – a poem by Jean L. Kreiling

Breath and Bone   


No breath is yours to keep: you take it in, 
and then return some to the atmosphere.
The bones that bear your weight and frame your skin 
decay a little with each passing year. 

But from the breath and bone of each of us 
come matchless gifts more durable than stone.
Each self observed—unique, miraculous— 
affirms that we are more than breath and bone. 

Jean L. Kreiling is the author of four collections of poetry; her work has earned the Able Muse Book Award, the Frost Farm Prize, the Rhina Espaillat Poetry Prize, and the Kim Bridgford Memorial Sonnet Prize, among other honors. A Professor Emeritus of Music at Bridgewater State University, she has published articles on the intersections between music and literature in numerous academic journals. She lives on the coast of Massachusetts.