i light a cigarette like a prayer, inhale smoke like holy incense, exhale sins into the night air. the ash falls like unanswered petitions, the glow like faith burning down too fast. i know this prayer kills me slowly, but at least it listens. sometimes belief is not about heaven, but about having something to hold between trembling fingers. smoke curls like scripture i can’t read, vanishing before i can memorize. yet i keep praying, coughing out devotion into the dark.