When you were young, you read fairytales about princes and princesses <br />They were young and beautiful and the princesses had long tresses <br />Sometimes a wicked old witch would cast an evil spell <br />If she wanted someone to respond she would ring her nasty bell <br /> <br />In more modern times, we still have spells but they are of a different form <br />No, these days nicotine addiction has become much more the norm <br />If you are under this wicked spell then you're totally in its power <br />Each time it rings its persistent bell you must respond, every minute, every hour <br /> <br />If the phone rings, you pick it up well that's obvious, we all do that <br />But if you're under the nicotine spell you MUST also light up and quick flat <br />You don't like being under a spell so you tell yourself, 'No I'm not. <br />I choose to smoke this cigarette because it's one of the few pleasures I've got' <br /> <br />But exactly where does the pleasure come from, how does it come from this nasty, disgusting thing? <br />Simple. You fear having no nicotine in your blood and alarm bells in your head start to ring <br />Once you draw deep on the cigarette the alarm bells stop, momentarily <br />At last you can relax, just briefly though, you know you'll never really be free <br /> <br />But try to remember those alarm bells are wrong, they shouldn't be ringing at all <br />Just relax when you hear them and if you ignore them they'll give in and curl up in a ball <br /> <br />(Sydney, Australia - 2003)<br /><br />Alessandra Liverani<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-spell-2/
