Smoke

 
You’ve become the smoke in my lungs
The black on my tongue
You set fire to my ladder
Burned every rung
Now I’m sitting at the bottom
Of a dried up well
Thinking I should keep crying
Crying enough
Just enough for it to fill
And I can climb out
Lungs too full of soot to shout
Just as it starts to rain
Damn my luck
If only I had waited
I wouldn’t have used up every drop
Inside me
Because of you
I could have saved it all
But it’s been used
Beat up, soaked through and through
Bruised
Black and purple
Melting hues
Rippling out for effect
I cough, I sputter, I doubt
Watching drops carve their route
Overflowing at the top
Putting out the fire that surrounded
With hissing smoke drifting upward
I watch myself let go
While my lungs start to clear
Memories ball up, spit out
Making room
For whatever’s on the way