Torched Lance
Torched Lance …
I stagger by your habits and addictions in disgust
Those mini monuments that hold you hostage though deceased
You treat them like the filthy things they are, and you lust,—
as though you’re an addict with aspirations for release
Ultimatums are made and threats to livelihoods are crossed
one alveolus at a time, the grave cost to pay,
One little fire burning the village, ‘til everything is lost,
And breath becomes a ravaging feat for taxing each day.
Twenty times each day this copious feat is taxed,
Convincing yourself that you felt better, more relaxed,
You wake up on the slaver’s block preparing for the axe,
And like a robot your steps were measured by syntax
The morning smoke, the breakfast puff, the way you’d plan your steps
The winter frost on your hoary tips, the smoke rings dance with ice
The warnings stirred were not enough, the mind accepts
The inhales before your coffee sips, delusional but nice.
The brain enwrapped by ties of smoke, at least the poison,
to dance with inhibition, taunted like a frantic fiend,
attacking defenses, laughing, promoting itself as enjoyment,
in the background it chokes you, no matter how hard you wean.
It tempts you like some evil cult facilitator,
And you reflect its tale, like some debilitated disciple
Each weaning process, followed with mercurial misbehavior,
The steps in your feet to fail, like God was cruel and spiteful
How long, in the microcosm of Chronos’s thought?
Stifled in the backdrop, in simple smiles to trial,
The drive, the willpower, each day, with doggedness, fought,
I know the pain you speak, the want, the desire growing viral.
Every smoker is one with the idol Prometheus
At one point or another we all believed we could harness fire
Feed the desire of unity, spark the urge of obedience,
Placate hells from the auburn ribbon at the end of the lighter
The more you stare the more and more you lose who you are
Mesmerized by that flicker, that welcoming to a new ego
With that James Dean-like ruggedness in your repertoire
You feel like a superstar, no equal, but that too is deceitful
You suck in this poison, this invisible venom
Thinking still that your social status will somehow climb
That the next expiry note will not see your name on the vellum
maybe you are above it, immune to the stock paradigm.
The steps are not failures, but insufferable to take,
Breathing with immense stridor, like an avalanche atop you
Like God has his hands girded around your trachea
Or the devil has your airways pinned beneath his shoes
Feeble excuses, always the ruse, torched lance and the noose
Analogous companions, equipment for use, the ransom
against you at your own will, if the shoe fits, use it
No truce with the dragon, your life in hellacious abandon.
One last hit, fingertips scorched, blisters emerge, singed skin splits,
The urge for more, committed to yearn, while burning another,
There’s always a burning, on the edge we live, through all the fits,
We’ve done this before, this hurting, same old way we suffer.
Addicted to this shit, media scorns, gas station posters taunt,
Like a crack fiend dreams; withdrawal sucks and ire apexes
In money schemes they sell us toys, like “Juuls” they flaunt
We feel redeemed, though now we’re stuck in a new objective—
Aggressive methods they propagate, promoting new waves,
Though at the end of the day all they sate is addiction
Conviction to another drug, another way to be a slave
Another way the mind has learned to deal with affliction
~
© 2019 Paul Neglia
For more works about addiction, love, life struggles, Shakesperian style, and other great topics by this author see Paul Neglia Author Page.
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A very strong message here, Paul, with great rhyme and phrasing. Well done.
Thank you so much Phyllis. This was another one of my vices. Haven’t had a cigarette for almost 6 years now. I cant believe how these companies are pushing these vaping products. They seem to be even worse than cigarettes. Thank you again
Paul quitting smoking was the hardest thing I ever did after drinking. Of course I have been able to avoid these two miserable things but the temptation is always in the back of the mind. Thank you for a great poem. I like you poems about addiction they are enlightening and might prove helpful to people in need. Jamie
Thank you so much Jamie. I did both as well. I found quitting cigarettes more difficult. It is so prominent in my everyday life. So many of my co-workers still smoke, it’s always in the back of my mind as well. I’ve been free of nicotine for almost 6 years now. Yeah I gained weight but to be able to smell and taste foods the way they were meant to smell and taste was so satisfying. Thank you again for your kind words.
Great and an important message Paul. Addictions no matter what it involves create more than enough hardship. Glad you were able to overcome yours.
Thank you so much Kurt. I’m happy I stopped smoking. It was as tough if not tougher than drinking. Separate entities but under similar circumstances. Thank you again my friend.
This is a wonderful work, Paul, and it isw evident that it was written by a former smoker as you captured the trials faced so well. It is also evident you harbour justifiable anger towards the tobacco companies, who now, with many people finally heeding the message that cigarettes kill, have turned to e-cigarettes and vaping to replenish their dwindling coffers (or should I say coughers.)
Thank you so much for your kind words John. Yeah I quit cold Turkey, never even tried the vaping. Now they are saying that vaping might be worse than smoking. Just another addiction. Thank you again my friend.