Midnight Cobalt

The spray can hisses,

sharp breath cutting through cold air,

a cobalt slash bleeding uneven over cracked brick.

Streetlamp flickers—weak sentinel

casting shadows that shiver

against wet shoes and cracked concrete.

Paint drips slow like lost blood,

the color dark and stubborn,

a quiet scream on a silent wall.

I stand beneath the cold light,

the night folding tight around me,

a single color holding all the loneliness

I can’t say out loud.