Who's Stronger? You Or Me? (Give Up Smoking Poem) Poem by Denis Martindale

Some try to gave up smoking, reducing Cancer's grip -
Avoiding the future choking as health conditions slip.
My father died some time before and I remembered well...
For Cancer's curse we daren't ignore - it's like a witch's spell!
One day there came a change of heart... The weed outlived its joy.
Though once thought elegant and smart, the heart it can destroy.
Yes, heart and lungs, our breath, our life, our essence here on Earth!
Why risk the pain, the grief, the strife? Is that what we deserve?
I saw my father's picture through the smoke that I exhaled...
This man died, aged seventy-two - at last his strength had failed.
I held the cigarette on high, and asked dramatically,
A bold decision drawing nigh, 'Who's stronger? You or me? '
From that day on, I changed inside - now smoke's not in my eyes!
What use is strength if not applied? Yet when it is... it's wise!
Fifty-a-day! And then no more! A change of heart, indeed!
And with this poem I implore... Give up the gruesome weed!