Passing Clouds

[Pilgrim]

Passing Clouds

Some day,
when I am old
and my well-meaning friends
have bidden me preserve myself
from death -

watch out!
I’ll go to town
and buy a Meerschaum pipe
and stuff it full of pungent herbs
and puff

sweet clouds
of perfumed smog
in their direction as
they, in their misplaced concern for
my health,

beseech
me to stop it
before I do myself
irreparable harm. Poor souls!
If they

but knew
to what extent
I intended to sit
and watch those passing clouds, they’d be
appalled.