Between Floors

Paint peels like forgotten skin,

the stair creaks beneath my weight.

A loose step shifts,

a crack, a pause.

Metal rail cold in my hand,

shadow pools like spilled ink

on concrete steps.

Between floors I linger—

suspended in the quiet

where no one waits,

breath held tight,

a moment stretched thin.

The flicker of a failing bulb

spells time

in fractured light.