Breathe Normally

Attention passengers: We will be flying today
at an altitude of thirty thousand feet.
In the event of sudden cabin depressurization
an oxygen mask will miraculously drop out of the overhead compartment.
Pull downward sharply and the flow of oxygen will commence.
Place the mask firmly against your face;
breathe normally - the bag will not inflate.
It will look like nothing is happening; nothing.
Breathe normally anyway.

If you are traveling with a small child,
first put on your own mask, then the child's.
Unconscious, you will be of no further use to your beloved daughter.
You will be unable to calm or to comfort, to say
"Goodbye" or "I'm sorry; for all those times
I've failed you, for all the terrors
I have not kept away, for all the times
I called you by your sister's name."
You will be unconscious and denied the absolution
she might have given.

So put your mask on first - and remember,
breathe normally.


K.A.WOOD
2007