Written by Asta La Vista Baby and titled "Fleeting," the poem reads like a slow collapse. Each stanza opens with a repeated word, almost like a gasp or a pulse, and ends with a single adverb: "Properly," "Dreadfully," "Painfully." That steady pattern makes the pain feel relentless, as if one hurt follows another with no time to recover.
The speaker seems to be in a damaging relationship. They feel smothered, the air is "poisoned," and a voice that jests and teases cuts them. Laughter rings out "casually," which suggests the other person doesn't notice, or care, how much harm is done. Midway through, a darker thought appears: revenge "will come, eventually." Yet by the end the anger gives way to loss. Love is "leaving me, agonisingly," and the final word hangs heavy.
The mood is tense, bitter and sorrowful. The short lines leave the reader a little breathless, much like the speaker.