Your head has a cloud
of smoke around it
as you huff and puff
like a chimney
your hair smells like smoke
your teeth have gone rotten
and yellow
like ancient parchment paper
your laying in your bed
in the hospital
full of tubes and IVs
and a tank of oxygen
to keep you breathing
your lungs look like garbage bags
wrinkled , shriveled, blackened
You're weak
You're tired
You're always sick
You're thought you where so cool
holding the cancer stick between your fingers
smoking with the cool kids
being number one
"they can't hurt me,"
you declared
" these cigarettes can't kill me!"
"Its cancer." the doctor tells you
he puts the x-ray on the screen
"Impossible to operate on."
Not so cool now are you?
You've got three months to live
"I only smoke a little." you said
"I can quit anytime!" you swore
now you need the feel of the cigarette in your hand
you sold your life to a box of smokes
don't you wish you'd listened,
to your parents now,
when they told you
"Put down the cigarettes!"
but its too late now
you live for death
little death sticks
you lost this battle
you realize, staring at the screen
you lost it the moment you lit up
in the high school parking lot 20 years ago
you lost when you refused the nicotine patches 14 years ago
you lost when your son begged you to stop
10 years ago
you lost when your grand kids begged you to stop 6 years ago
you climb out of the hospital bed
and into your wheel chair
you whisper a request
and the nurse nods
18 minutes later your sitting in 7-11
by the cigarettes
a bunch of teenagers walk over
" six packs" one boy says
You wait till he's got the packs in his hands
"Put em down!!" you bark
"w-what?" the surprised youth replies
"Put down the cigarettes! Put 'em down you fool!" you snap
"Look at me. Do you want to look like me?"
"N-N-No Ma'am." he stutters
"Then put down the cigarettes!"
He throws the packs down and runs
runs home
all day you do this
yelling at each youth seeking cigarettes
"Put the cigarettes down!"
At closing time
the nurse wheels you out
and you look at the stars
as your wheels roll over many spilled
unused
cigarettes
your heart stutters
and as your heart comes to a slow stop
you look at the stars and smile
because today
you won the battle