Lawrence
Hall
Dispatches for the Colonial Office
LogoSophia Magazine – A Pilgrim's
Journal of Life, Literature and Love
The
Distinct Click of a Zippo Cigarette Lighter
A man
An old man
An old man slumped in a wheelchair
An old man slumped in a wheelchair outside
the cardiac clinic
Smoking a cigarette
An old man smoking a cigarette, not
the clinic
The clinic is not smoking in any way
While armed with smug looks of
disapproval
We could pursue him with guilt and consequences
Along the disinfected corridors
Of offices, labs, and consulting rooms
Maybe even past the patch-painted
corner
Where the cigarette machine used to be
And the pay ‘phone and the newspaper
rack
But Bogart and the Marlboro Man are
dead
A Zippo clicks as it did in his youth
Leave the old man smoking his past
alone
Because he is alone, and because he is
dying
And his cigarette is the only joy left
to him
