One Year Ago

[TheStatsGuy]

CIGAR by Jude Forese

It was that time of year again

The phantom aroma of spice, chocolate and mild earthy tones
Permeated his memory
As he sat next to a humidor stacked with Cohiba, Monte Crisco, CAO,
And Partagas 150: quite a rare cigar,
Ripened at least 25 years

Together they formed a living mass of binders, fillers
And sun aged wrappers
Coiled around remembrances of warmer days
When his father would sit in front of the fireplace
Or out by the lake
Rolling a puro around his fingers
Puffing out a cloud of smoke
Forming a variety of archetypal shapes,
As he spoke of matters fathers usually dismiss;
Evoking mystery and wonder
In even the most simple things

It was that time of year again
When memories placed a smile on the saddest face
And transformed it into an expression of joy

Even as it yearned for a connection
To renew a heart forever broken

It was that time of year again
To rotate his father’s “babies”
And to touch his fingertips again

Rearranging each one
Admiring their supple veins
Maturing to a luxurious golden patina

It was that time again,
His father’s birthday

A celebration of existence
A reaffirmation that nothing really dies,
That everything is constantly reborn
Even in the bouquet of a fine smoke

He would commemorate
His father's fleeting moment in time
With a Partagas 150, his favorite

He recalled how he said he would smoke
These only on his birthday
Since they were so opulent and scarce

So he torched up
Inhaling its fine eloquence and subtle aroma

Surrounded by a smoky miasma
And a vision of his father’s enduring presence

And a son’s touch with class
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