Love Affairs in Beijing and Wondering When the Earth Took up Smoking

It was a one, two, three resuscitation
inhaling the fervent smell of street vendors
toiling over sidewalk delicacies.

Do you see the ripples in the turbid riverbank;
susurrations of warmth and sickness
lost in the undertow of yesterday?

No amount of the trembles lining my spine
could shake off the billowing blankets of smog
coated thick and viscous in my lungs.

With heads thrown back over the railings
that bound our feet to this weathered concrete,
my mind teeters and tips over the edge of tomorrow.

When did the sky lose its color
to the wisps of gray dancing across my eyes?