my hand stretches out
unbiddingly -
involuntarily
to reach for the long slim
cigarette.
shaking fingers
burn it to life
scorching it
crumbling it to ashes
taking its breath away
to make me feel.
the white cloud
streams free -
after capture in
rotting lungs.
I know-
I know-
my time has come
as it meant to
relentlessly
crushed out like the
last remains of a long
slim cigarette
the hot orange
stifled to grey ash
And still I do it
Dear god -
Still I do it.
7 March, '84
nice one ushaji...
ReplyDeletecoincidentally i was exactly one month old when you wrote it ..:)
some thing i had not read before in AP
ReplyDelete:)
Good one as ever a diff this time :):)
Good take :) i can add some more damage it does :P lol:)
ReplyDeletebrilliantly written...it says it all..yeah I would love to add some more damage it does too:D
ReplyDeleteI suppose it can only be understood by someone who is unable to let go of the habit...it can be hard I suppose
If Requiem for Dream had an effect then- You sure rekindled it :)
ReplyDeleteI am repeating at the risk of being repetitive.. If the world were to eke out another land allowing only people with words to be the citizens- You would find yourself in ruling court.
(Had left the same comment on Sashu's blog :)
Usha, I hate to say this but... you might be written about 50, 200, maybe even 2000 years from now:)
ReplyDeleteLovely, so deep, so imaginative, so everything, long time since I read something like this:)
Sidharth Poduval , thanks :) I know it is a long time since that day isn't it ? :)
ReplyDeleteShal , one of the earliest postings on AP, perhaps that is why you could not read it :) Thanks so much!
rukhiya , :) sure, that is true, more damage it does.. :) Thanks for adding that!
Indyeah , Meg, certainly it would be right to say that only a person so afflicted would know. :) Thank you as always for being there!
Prabhu Dutta Das , as always, you bring another dimension altogether to the perspective. Thank you for the kind words :) Flattered no end :)
naperville mom , oh my oh my :) overwhelmed by that note :) Thank you so very much. But then, I hate to say this too, lol, but I guess you might have overestimated the reach of the words here. :) Made my day to read those words :)
It reminds me one of my poem on similar note
ReplyDeletehttp://yogeshjagam.blogspot.com/2008/09/smoke.html