The Rise and Fall of a Sigh

Letters and numbers on a screen,
the blue light and hum excites
the way the old, yellow wall phone
with the stretched out cord used to cause
me to spring from my room
to the kitchen with great leaps.
Aside from the ring,
it was a connection of voice and breath
traveling through wires.

Now our words appear after three dots,
as if communicating through the ethers,
without further nuance than colored hearts,
symbols, and faces on shapes.
We have captured speed and immediacy
but lost the tone and warmth of
the human voice’s lilting intonation,
the rise and fall of a sigh.
Take me to the place
where a single word is a whisper on the skin,
where I hold my breath
just to hear the sound of someone listening.