Smoke

Donathen my love,
You know that people want to blame your cancer on smoking.They hear the news,"Lung cancer" and ask, "Smoker?". They want to find the rhyme and reason for the cancer.  I feel as if I must defend you. I tell them that when you were homeless (he was?) and a drug addict ( I didn't know that) that you used to burn the casings off of copper wire. That you had lung failure back then. That yes, you did smoke but that there were many other reasons why you might have gotten cancer where you did. Not using a mask to re-finish, do flooring, sanding, sheet rock, being cavalier about fumes, laquer, pain thinner. You and I have seen that cancer comes even to those who have never even touched a cigarette.People want me to tell them that you smoked. They want to believe that if you had stopped smoking you would not have gotten lung cancer. I really do not have the answers for them.  They want the reasons why a man so young could be taken so fast. If that is their way of coping then so be it. But this world in which governments have allowed the poisoning of food, water, air, and ocean is a much more far reaching cause to the effect of cancer. Next time someone asks "Smoker?" I want to simply say- "Human Being".