(no subject)

[arachne8x]

Nicotine

By the time I was born ,
she had already stopped.
Her family's urging and
the health reports pressed the issue,
but her lungs were
already weighted down
by tar.

The Devil can only go
where he is invited.
But when she was
young no one knew
his name was nicotine,
and she drew him
into herself.

I can't remember a time
when her breathing wasn't labored.
I do remember plays, recitals,
graduation, without her,
The air is too thin in the mountains
for someone who
can't breathe.

Mom and Dad say
we're going to visit her.
Two to three more years
of pain, being taken care of,
wishing it was over. That's the
doctor's good news.
I am afraid to see her dying,

with him grinning, sitting on her
chest. Black teeth, black hands,
black. When you hold that tube
so elegantly, I see him
behind you, his breath
black in your lungs.
I am afraid to see you die.