It is evening, they take him out of his cell and into
the walled courtyard. An officer offers him a fag,
he accepts, and smokes it slowly, inhaling deeply.
The officer says, “don’t worry it will soon be over."
Then they tie his hands behind his back, blindfold
him and place him against a pockmarked wall.
The officer asks if the prisoner, has a last word,
a message to the world or his family. The damned
shakes his head, a long silence, and a volley of fire.
Today, after being told by my doctor I’m an idiot,
I have stopped smoking.
I too am an idiot and am with you. I threw the fag long ago but still would like to stand against that poke-marked wall after inhaling a lung-full of that fag. Smokers never die!
