early retirement

Today my father
would have turned
sixty-five, reached

that career pinnacle
a well-earned
retirement

instead he chose
between a nicotine
forefinger and thumb

hitched an early out
a buyout on his
contractual obligations.

all that life's lived
all the wisdom
concealed in his tight lips

could not reveal
the will to live
beyond his rustic roots

in Carolina's fields
strewn with tobacco
the barns drying

the filtered taste
of warm smoke
years of life wasted.

I still occasionally
light up myself;
I'm not so bright.