bars of
golden light
diffused
through the
dirty glass
slice through
the smoky haze
a retention
of hope
vivisecting
a frozen morn

the coffee
tastes of ash
my tongue
a terminal for
the arcing
dissent frying
bare nerves

bathed in the
bars of
golden light
a cognizant
shadow in a
fog of swirling
caffeinated
particulates
an incorporeal
heartache
a phantom pain
articulated
in empty prose

her instinct
is to run away
mine is to rot
in patient waves
of nothingness