Dependence

• Caitlin Mccusker, Grade 9
• Poetry
• 2021

looking through the foggy glass, the summer warmth has come to pass
the midnight chill stings like a whip, I watch the smoke spill from your lips
every night it is the same, your hand around that tiny flame
poison turning your lungs thin, you don’t care—you let it in
the toxic stench, it fills the air, I smell it, taste it, everywhere
as tendrils squeeze your neck & throttle, I watch your hand pick up the bottle
my chest is tight, I start to cry, I’ve seen the symptoms you can’t hide
like all the others who have died from this disease—this suicide
as much as I beg you to quit, you’d rather lie than to admit
and so, I watch you, helplessly, succumb to your dependency