romantic thief

my first breath i imagine a big bang

when life ignites, it shifts form

she wakes quick, starving for oxygen

pressed to my mouth like a prayer i rehearsed

before i knew what i believed

i am now a mother breathing for two

smoke crawls into my eye

i russian twist my cigarette from side to side

to coax her mischievous path 

she spirals like a small nebula

fluid in the wind

she ascends to heavens as a final offering

a sacrifice to remain formless and free 

she leaves my lips 

in pulses my diaphragm can’t stop

impossible to pocket in my ribcage

her warmth washes the walls of my throat

while tickling my nasal canal

before she pulls away 

leaving the ashy aftertaste of freedom on my tongue 

her dormant body lies stiff in lined sticks

claustrophobic in a commercial box

i am an addict 

but nevertheless a romantic 

whose dying wish is to set her free

to take in her poison

and still call it mercy