Between Virtue and Breath
I wrote the poem Patience in my early 20s. At the time, I was in a long-distance “relationship” with someone I had never met in person. We met online—me in Nebraska, him in the UK. He was searching for comfort close to home, and I was searching for a way out of the stifling, deserted cornfields I grew up in.
We spent hours on the phone, talking through near-missed connections, imagined futures, watching our favorite movie musical together, good nights and good mornings while waiting for the other to fall asleep sweetly. He was also the first guy I ever said, “I love you,” to. That poem was my attempt to reconcile the reality and uncertainty of being in love with someone I had never met and who was more than 4,000 miles away.
Nearly 20 years later (and yes, we did meet), even though we are not in a romantic relationship, he’s still in my life and he will always hold a special place in my heart. During the same time, I’ve grown and changed—and I continue to learn patience in new ways.
Breath Uncertain is another reconciliation — this time with myself and the person I continue to become. My poetic style has evolved over the years, and not only do these poems represent that evolution, they also remind me that patience is no longer just a virtue I wait for — it is a breath I live within, even with uncertainty.
Breath is anticipation for what is to come, not a virtue placed on myself or someone else.
It is between virtue and breath that I continue to find myself.
What if patience isn’t about waiting at all—but about how we breathe through what is uncertain?
Where do you find yourself—between virtue and breath?
Patience
Patience is a virtue—
And may our virtuous
deeds pay off,
or relapse—
into a memory
of something
we once had.
- James Allen 2005/2006
Breath Uncertain
It is the breath—
between clock strokes,
where virtue is rumored
to be gained.
And, in my breath
an ache, dull—
wrapped in your history,
for your growth
is far more lenient
than I.
Therefore,
may our virtuous
deeds payoff,
or held in breath—
and in a memory,
of something
we once had.
- James Allen 2025