The smoke got in my eyes

Every October

When the sugarcane burned

Sweetness filled the air

And the soot lingered

Abandoned untwisted in the wind

And took away care

An apothecary of distillations

To inebriate my head

Led there along the Mississippi’s banks

By careless happenstance

To toil in the wilderness

Like Homer said he was led

Seven years to make the charm

Release its arms

Dark water bayous matched

My dark heart

Beat for beat

Parlayed and played

Without retreat