No. 091

You lit my cigarette
mechanically, and with a
jilted and wilted face.

You rubbed your eye and
looked at me with the other
almost like assessing the space –

between us.

I always knew you were
the same as those before you
but I had hoped for most gumption.

I gave a little, lost a bit more
as you betrayed my effort at goodness,
like a disease, like consumption –

Like a vacuum.