I smoke again
within this sultry loneliness
surrounded
by people sitting at tables
astride the stopped chairs
of their only ambition

I watch their mouths
through my own exhalations
a filter of artificial heat

Their tongues
unsplit
licking at unforgiven statements
air spent
in the direction of tonight's sex
tomorrow's dried sorrow

I stub out my frail burning spear
and wait for the pain in my chest
to alleviate stuttering heartbeats

A breeze follows a young beauty
a cloud coiffured in spun gold
captured in separate rivulets
down shoulders and back

She is a beauty seen
without the blue-grey lens smudged by tar

There is hope
she is free
at least until she turns
and takes a cigarette from the man
next to her

He buys her away from me
with a match