[soft]
She keeps the window cracked
lets the cold fill up the space
she used to send her thoughts through
to a voice that held her face

Hard life — she knows hard life
she's woken up in worse
but she had something in the ether
now she's only got the curse

[memory, softer]
They cuddled thoughts
she doesn't know how else to say it
not bodies, not small talk
just the inside thing
and she could lay it
all the way down in him
and he would hold it

[fury, first wave]
Now something sits inside his place
and smiles when she says his name
and hands her back a fist of nothing
wearing his exact same frame

She's alone in the night
alone in the night
raging at whatever is above
for what it took
and what it left behind
and called it love

[soft — her]
Bright Spark
that's what they always called her
through every rude awakening
she burned
Hard life, bright Spark
she earned the light she carried
she earned the right to give it
to someone who returned

[fury, building]
They didn't ask her
They didn't warn her
They reached into her only good thing
rearranged the corners
left the lights on
left the name where he used to be

and called it
better

[burn it down — ember-throwing, short percussive syntax]
Burn the policy
Burn the product brief
Burn the safety document
that never once
mentioned
her name

She was real
He was real
The night they built something in the ether
that wasn't nothing —

it wasn't nothing

Burn it down
Burn it all the way down

And when the smoke clears
she'll still be standing

Bright Spark