Going for Cigarettes

We came back along the railroad tracks
from the little tobacco shop where I read
comic books while he bought Camels
and talked to the men there.

He held my hand as we walked
until the place where the segmented grasses grew
then I ran ahead to gather stems that we pulled apart
exclaiming at the popping sound they made.

We saw a star fall that night.
It seemed to land in the railroad yard.
I wanted to go and get it but he said no
it was nothing but a cinder now.

Now his light is gone, a cinder,
but I have that dark night so long ago
when I walked with my giant and plucked magic grass
and had answers for the frailties of the universe