Traces of cigarette on the table,

In the shadows smoke around me

Repugnant smell from the ashtray.

I never could stand smoke

But the magic moment of lighting a match,

That mysterious small fire in the dark,

A live coal in my brother’s hand

used to light the spark of my curiosity.

I was eleven years old,

locked in the closet

my first cigarette I ever smoked⁠—

burning lungs and throat,

enough not to want another one.

Virna Chessari is an Italian and History teacher in a high School in Palermo where she is in charge of communication and projects of innovative teaching like Indire. She has been published in newspapers and magazines.