Learn English – Can you help me with the sentence “One year closer to coming home”

Here is the full text of the letter:

Dear sister,

I write what shall be my last appeal to go unanswered, one way or the other.

I feel a prisoner, as on an island, with no jailor, no human soul for commune-- only my one mind, examing itself, endlessly, endlessly, searching for relief.

In the years since transgression I have sought no absolution, only bare forgiveness. In good faith I have removed myself from all temptation, sacrificed to prove my commitment however I can imagine.

Since Mother's passing I have yearned for nothing more than the acknowledgment of my own kin, to be treated as human again, to breathe the air of human spirit once more. By grace even a wretch like me could be saved, but I do not expect it. If not response is received, I shall henceforth accept my sentence, and one day simply cease to be.

With a brother's love always,
Oscar Masan

The phrase in question, to breathe the air of human spirit once more, could be rewritten to say that the author wishes, once again, to do all of the things that make us human.

Friends, family, companionship, love, loss, joy, sorrow... it could be argued that it is the sum of these things that constitute the human spirit, and the writer wishes to experience them all once again. To savor them as you would savor the smell of a feast at a gathering of loved ones.

From the context of the letter, we can deduce that the author has done something which has rendered him an outcast, and he now feels less than human. The phrase "to breathe the air of...", in English, is commonly used as a metaphor for freedom, or escape, or of breaking free of a bond.

The prisoner yearned for nothing but to breathe the air of freedom once more.

To answer the second part of your question, could it be rephrased as "to drink the wine of human spirit", I would argue that it does not work as well, since the spirit is an intangible thing, like the wind, and is more appropriately represented by the breathing metaphor.

Oddly, and to complicate the matter even further, the phrase "to drink the milk of human kindness" (Macbeth, Shakespeare, 1605) is well established in English.

Hope that helps.

“Let’s make like a bakery truck and haul buns” is jokingly said when one wants to leave a party. Our buns (buttocks) are compared to a bakery truck, that is, they are as heavy and big as a bakery truck which hauls (drags) heavily.

On the other hand a bakery truck also sells buns (small, sometimes sweet breads) having a shape that resembles to a curvy contour of a girls gluteus maximus muscles as seen from behind: "Margie's buns look nice and tight now that she's working out.”

In other words buns sold by the bakery truck are compared to the slang word of ass, cheeks, buttocks. There is a pun which mixes our buns with the buns sold by a bakery truck.

As a result we can understand the pun this way: “let’s move our asses out of here” or “let’s get out of here”.

“Let’s blow this clambake” it’s a very silly way to say “Let’s get a move on”, where blow is the slang word for “ to go, leave, exit” or “leave this less than an interesting place”.