Fine, Let It Burn

Fine, Let It Burn

Fine
let it burn
let the sky turn black
and the streets crack under heat

I ran around with buckets
long enough
let someone else blister their feet

Fire alarm chirps once
then twice
then screams like a demon
in a cheap apartment hall

Smoke rolls under the door
in lazy ribbons
paint blistering
shadows tall

I could grab the extinguisher
I could hit the stairs
and pound on every neighbor’s door

I stretch
yawn
sit on the edge of the bed
light a cigarette
watch the ash hit the floor

News blares from the screen
about the world going sideways
headlines stacked like corpses in a feed

War here
flood there
kids in cages
rich men fattening on every bleeding need

I scroll with one thumb
heart rate flat
no spike
no prayer
no righteous rage in my veins

Just a vague “figures” in my skull
and the slow twitch of a leg
while the planet strains

You scream “how can you not care”
like that fixes a single flame
I retired from panic
when nobody listened
to my aim

Mother calls
voice thin
says she needs help
with the meds and the bills

I stare at the phone
till it stops ringing
pop another movie on
chase a couple cheap thrills

Guilt crawls up my spine
like roaches
then settles in
and falls asleep

I mute the memories
turn the volume up
let the worry sink deep

I used to sprint into every blaze
till my hair smelled like smoke for weeks
nobody handed me water
just more fires
more demands
more shrieks

Something in me snapped
one midnight
on the third unpaid rescue run

Ever since
my first thought watching any flame
is “good, let it be done”

When they call me heartless
on the newsflash
and dig through my history
for proof I never earned

Tell them I once ran
till my lungs bled
then I stopped
said “fuck this”
let it burn