Brown, yucky and tasteless <br />Toxic monsters <br />All tightly bundled <br />Into a thin roll. <br />That's me! <br />Slim and handy <br />As I squeeze in between <br />Your fingers. <br />Burning my tail, <br />I turn into ashes and smoke <br />Surging my way <br />Through your mouth <br />To reach your lungs <br />Blocking arteries and veins on my way. <br />I hypnotize your cells <br />And they go dividing and dividing <br />Turning your lungs <br />Into a cancerous demon. <br />My dear children <br />Nicotine and tobacco-tar <br />Slowly eating you up, <br />Immersing you in their toxic bliss. <br />And you still enjoy me! <br />A tap on my back <br />Flicking off the ashes <br />As you smoke <br />I gleefully enter through the tiny hairs in <br />The tiny nostrils of <br />Your tiny little kids <br />B'cos blocking arteries <br />Is what I do <br />Whether its you or <br />People around you <br />What we share <br />Happens to be parasitism. <br />You burn me <br />And I burn your life. <br /> <br />I am burnt out now <br />Only the butt remains. <br />Throw me before I burn you. <br />And here you go <br />Lighting another me <br /> <br />I guess perhaps, <br />I am dearer <br />Than your family and your life. <br />But mind the spark in the butt <br />It's the spark of your life <br />Breathing and flickering now, <br />But........................... <br /> <br />As I come to you again <br />I carry an expiry date <br />Certainly not mine.<br /><br />Roopa Menon<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-those-who-love-me/
