Empty Cup

Burnt out.

Run down.

Like a cigarette

smoked to the filter

still burning my fingers

while pretending

it doesn’t hurt.

I keep pouring

from an empty cup.

Keep showing up

half-human

half-static.

The tarot reads:

Hanged Man.

Sacred pause.

Reversed King of Pentacles.

Stop.

The High Priestess.

Rest.

Unplug the wire.

Let the signal drop.

Let the static fade.

And I am just a body

left in the dark.

The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame (c. 1635–1637) by Georges de La Tour