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AD LIBITUM

Tobacco Tax

Eric L. Dyer, MD

1 August 1997 | Volume 127 Issue 3 | Page 241

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"Their bodies fill a crumbling room with light"-Allen Tate

The ultimate burley tariff came due
that dark-fired afternoon
when many would have paid
on his behalf if coins would clear his debt.
Yet, lungs aged thirty years beyond
the hand which had held his cigarettes
demanded currency stronger than that
as pneumonia red-penciled
his life's works like first drafts.

Around his hospital bed that night
stood boys in white, unsure, ascending,
starched, fervent, answering their pages
full of hope and healing, reading
one last biting essay from the sage
who taught a lesson in dyspnea as he died
in that spare classroom where he forgot
the first lines of his own poems,
breathing the common air.

Author and Article Information

Top Author & Article Info

Nashville, TN 37203
Requests for Reprints: Eric L. Dyer, MD, 2400 Patterson Street, Nashville, TN 37203.

Article    Table of Contents                  Services    Send comment/rapid response letter    Notify a friend about this article    Alert me when this article is cited    Add to Personal Archive    Download to Citation Manager    ACP Search                            Get Permissions  Google Scholar    Search for Related Content  PubMed Articles in PubMed by Author:    Dyer, E. L.    PubMed