a last cigarette

Goodbye, with a grin

for half a century

more than a lifetime

they’d fought

he with bravado and

cut of the tongue

she with the power of will

 

she wavered that day

at the stern of the ferry

then lit him a last cigarette

as one does

when a man is

condemned

 

then threw out his urn

into the waves

but left the lid on

 

chaining his spirit

as she sailed free

Author's Note

Contest: Humour