Only until this cigarette is ended / Edna St. Vincent Millay

 
from Unnamed Sonnets

IV

Only until this cigarette is ended
A little moment at the end of all,
While on the floor the quiet ashes fall,
And in the firelight to a lance extended,
Bizarrely with the jazzing music blended,
The broken shadow dances on the wall,
I will permit my memory to recall
The vision of you, by all my dreams attended.
And then adieu, — farewell! — the dream is done.
Yours is a face of which I can forget
The colour and the features, every one.
The words not ever, and the smile not yet;
But in your day this moment is the sun
Upon a hill, after the sun has set.

~~
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)
from Second April, 1921


[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]

Edna St. Vincent Millay biography

The Smoker / nounofme

The Smoker She had one cigarette left It was midnight She was naked and warm watching a movie snacks and coke there were winter storm warnings out as she looked out the window she could  see at least two inches down She lit up the last one and walked back to bed snuggling in as the commercial ended she tamped out her last one then walked to the dresser and the coat pockets the ash trays for a long butt She put on her  pants and shirt found the car keys and headed out Quick trip Five miles in heavy snow Hello ..... Two packs of Camel shorts She died of lung cancer during the trip home No not really ..... She slid off the road and ran into a tree No ...... She got home took off all her clothes and slid back into bed No ....... She slipped on the snow going back to the house But whatever she did she lit up before she did it like a true smoker ~~ noun nounofme Clever, Missouri, U.S.A.  nounofme on "Poems" http://groups.google.ca/groups/profile?hl=en&enc_user=oou0ABMAAABu_VSnr2WnIIFFgVjE1YjCWMj6vob75xS36mXc24h6ww [All rights reserved by the author - Used with permission]