Reflections in the basin
Smoke billows off the edge, suffocate.
Easing brain not to remember grave.
Mind turns on turbine above flame,
Inhaled, then exhaled mist of dead restraint.
Slow drip down throat hovering
Above latrine, sometimes bleeding,
Sometimes breath evades.
Washed away by white nicotine
Streams, current's repetition
Sustained by grievance.
Floating atop each choke,
Slippery and yellow.
Thoughts about
One lung left
To fail in frail
Last attempts
At breath.
But to no avail...
Control still folds,
Over the bowl
In this Funeral hall.
Inhale, exhale
Discard the
Cigarette
With a hiss
Into mirror liquid.
Then walk
Back to mourn
The dead.
©6/15/99