you are silent.
you are silent because
stress is eating away at your flesh,
eating away at every crevasse,
every dip of your skin.
it just so happens to also be eating away
at the nubs you call your
fingernails.
you've become accustomed to eating
at Joe's Diner every Friday night
for the past three years;
it was your wife's favorite.
the place just shut down,
probably due to a health code violation.
you miss her,
so you light the tip of your cigarette,
hoping that the nicotine
might kill the pain.
but it doesn't.
so you stay silent.