On Loan to Us

As humans we will take about 700 million breaths in our lifetime. Horses will take around 450 million. What is this invisible thing that moves through our lungs, that we can see only on cold days? We don't have to think about it for it to keep us alive, but we get a life in return. The horses breath on the cold morning air reminds me that although we can see it, we cannot hold it. We cannot capture that which isn't ours. Our breath, like our horse, is only on loan to us for a short while. We have no control over when our breath starts, and no knowledge of when it will end. Between these two landmarks is a life mapped in our breaths.