Cranking

The boarded sky bulged down and broke.
The night collapsed,
Hummed infection green.
She swore
Just another,
Just keep it filled with gasoline.

I learned so many years ago
To always stay in the corner.
I loved her,
But she'd grown a part
Of opium and greasy gears
Enrobed in steam and smoke and hissing.
When she rarely was at home,
She still was fused inside the fumes,
Her breath an engine
Jumping rails.
In bed,
She pounded with the pistons,
Cranking oblivious.

Dandelions, daffodils,
Entwine the flowers.
Crown her glorious
And make a wish.

The machine coughed out sickly smog
And finally went off.
The world was numb.
Nobody even felt the blow.

The ones that hold your everything,
They gallop over hills
And vanish in the golden hours.

- 5/1/26

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