Blink
Stuttered stare
stapling
My hands to my chest,
My jaw to my neck.
Her fixation
So tense, passionate, illuminated;
My consideration
So fleeting, pleasing, insinuating.
Patrons dash through my view
While our distance closes,
her slender fingers
caressing the cigarette
violently discharging
the ashes.

Claustrophobia;
My body becomes engulfed
I am hidden from the cold
hidden from prying eyes.
As Strangers surround her ears
Her focus remains on the mirror…

Blink
she rapidly, violently, forcefully
extinguishes the cigarette
leaving a once treasured,
now mangled remnant.

My sympathy lies
with the cigarette…
being controlled so gently
enjoyed and cared for
so delicately,
truly, devastatingly, simply
burning out…
a fate of smoke.

One day
a well groomed mouth
will pull a long drag
and I will be permanently extinguished…
only to be temporarily cherished
on the tongues of those
who were kind enough to provide flame.
My smokes burn to the filter

By Robert Blunt