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~MY LUNGS~

MY LUNGS
A poem by
~Nigel W.D. Mumford
My very life, plugged into the wall!
inflate, deflate, inflate, deflate days at a time.
Lungs must be nurtured, protected,
smokers avoided like plague.
Bleach, chemicals, even worse, a severe irritant.
Panic! Can’t breathe…keep calm, avoid source, seek clean air.
Weight on the chest, lungs pushing up, grasping,
grasping for pure air and prayer.
Hum of nebulizer, smoke of the peace pipe.
Instant side effects:
twenty-five cups of coffee jitters
and fitful gasping coughs
with nail-piercing headache.
The next 24 hours waiting for lungs to calm down
from the unexpected assault or is it insult?
Such effort to command the weight to lift up,
to even have to think about breathing.
Press on. Remember
Christ fighting for air,
His bloody back scraping wood
as He rose and fell, rose and fell
to breathe for me,
for love, He fell and rose.
I wrote this poem 9 years after I was hospitalized for three months
With the H1N1 swine flu virus. I was intubated and in a coma for three weeks.
I lost 63 lbs and was not expected to live! My pulmonoligest said I used to
Have the lungs of an eighteen wheeler, now they are the size of a Volkswagen!
To read the full story see, “Dying to Live, how near death experiences increase
Our faith.” Amazon.com

4 thoughts on “~MY LUNGS~”

  3. revcatt says:

    Nigel, this post brought me to tears. I am so sorry for what you went through and what you encounter on a daily basis to breathe… my brother in Christ, I cannot imagine, and at the same time I know the power of prayer that brought you through those times and still … and I am thankful. Thank you so very much for breathing healing into the world. I am deeply grateful for you and for your witness.
    Sent from my iPad
    >

  4. Beverly Wirth says:

    Every breath you take is a gift from God. To hear you speak is a gift from God. I think you have Christ’s lungs as he gasped for breath… God bless you, friend and spokesman for God.
    Beverly Wirth

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