Cigarette Smoke and Soil

Cigarette smoke and dirt,

The scents that linger ever present in my nostrils,

That will linger in my clothes,

That will intertwine and cling in the fibers of soiled sheets,

And embed itself into each and every strand of my hair,

Cigarette smoke and dirt,

These odors being the only known remnants of you,

Your last connection to me,

They bring me back,

Back to quiet late nights and silent footsteps through the cold,

You and I,

Escaping into the darkness,

Only to return when the black ink of the sky began to leech into a navy hue,

The sliding silk panels pressed and wrapped around stray limbs and empty hearts,

Both of us attempting to fill our hollow chests with the other’s lingering love,

Neither of us succeeding,

Soft, sensitive touch,

Cold exchanges of affections,

Heart and heart,

Limb and limb,

Intertwined like the smokey ghosts of your past cigarettes,

The ones that haunt my memory,

The underlying feeling both of us were dead inside,

Buried in the suffocating dirt that now resides under my nails,

Those nights blend together,

Those empty emotions burned into my head,

The scent burned into my nostrils,

Cigarette smoke and dirt.