Returns

The rush of people
The pressure
Not to slow others down
Leaves me in shambles
As I race up the jetway
Into the terminal.

I stop to catch my breath
And realize how shallow
the air sits in my lungs.

A feeling I knew
All too well returns
Within moments of moving
Through a space
I once called home.

The stress of travel
Leaves me tired
Up thirteen hours
Only to arrive
Just before one
In the afternoon
Mountain Time.

A few days, I stabilize.
My body remembers what
It’s like to live in
A climate this high.