Brown, yucky and tasteless
Toxic monsters
All tightly bundled
Into a thin roll.
That's me!
Slim and handy
As I squeeze in between
Your fingers.
Burning my tail,
I turn into ashes and smoke
Surging my way
Through your mouth
To reach your lungs
Blocking arteries and veins on my way.
I hypnotize your cells
And they go dividing and dividing
Turning your lungs
Into a cancerous demon.
My dear children
Nicotine and tobacco-tar
Slowly eating you up,
Immersing you in their toxic bliss.
And you still enjoy me!
A tap on my back
Flicking off the ashes
As you smoke
I gleefully enter through the tiny hairs in
The tiny nostrils of
Your tiny little kids
B'cos blocking arteries
Is what I do
Whether its you or
People around you
What we share
Happens to be parasitism.
You burn me
And I burn your life.

I am burnt out now
Only the butt remains.
Throw me before I burn you.
And here you go
Lighting another me

I guess perhaps,
I am dearer
Than your family and your life.
But mind the spark in the butt
It's the spark of your life
Breathing and flickering now,
But...........................

As I come to you again
I carry an expiry date
Certainly not mine. 

[This poem is from my book NEW POETIC VOICES]