Tag: poem

Cigar and beer with a friend at a bar

Have a Cigar: Camacho Triple Maduro Gordo

Chris Khatsch2 Comments

Name: Camacho Triple Maduro Gordo

Country: Honduras

Shape: Parejo

Size: Gordo (6 inches x 60)

Strength: Full

A full-bodied cigar,
dark
with notes of fearlessness and passion.

It burns majestically, cheerfully,
nostalgically like memories
shared
when you’re at a bar
with one of the best friends
life could give you.

Beer mugs are emptied
one after another.
Laughter…

Shots of whiskey are downed
like rounds of bullets,
with every shot killing a bad joke,
a bad day,
a bad memory.

Stories are told…

Drunkenness wraps itself
around your heart and your tongue.

Yes.

Sometimes,
you enjoy the moment so much
that you forget about space and time.
Sometimes,
you enjoy the cigar so much
that you forget something is burning
in your hand.

But you know this,
that always
fire is leisure,
love and life.
It is everything but
darkness and forgetfulness.

So you keep it burning
this fire that you have —
the cigar, the grill, the fireplace…
And never put it out
because, when you do,
tediousness will swallow you
and you will want to die.

“The New Year” by Misak Metsarents

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Misak Metsarents (1886-1908) was a Western Armenian neo-romantic poet. This is my translation of “The New Year” from Armenian to English.

The New Year

Tonight, the well-dressed and adorned new year
Waits for the morning light with great zeal;
Spirits forever stole the year
From our embrace the familiar voices of the old one.

The new year’s gift, the bright moonlight
Is draped on all the mountains of the village;
The songs of the old, the cries of the young
echo erratically with strong, discernible timbres.

A series of desires gripping the heart
Shake it fiercely with fiery emotions;
Ignited by these unquenchable emotions,
The burning hearts pound with longing.

In the silence of the night’s final moments
The sounds and illuminations slowly fade;
And wearing the fine linen made of the blue arch
The well-dressed new year enters the decorated world.

Smoking an Avo Heritage Robusto in Lebanon

Have a Cigar: Avo Heritage Robusto

Chris Khatsch1 Comment

Name: Avo Heritage Robusto

Country: Dominican Republic

Shape: Parejo

Size: Robusto (4 7/8 inches x 50)

Strength: Medium to Full

Finally, after a long day, a short break.

I need an earthquake
to shake me out of work
this evening.

What a day.

I’m glad I managed to escape
the world
to come here and hide
on the roof of a six-story building.

All I want to do is burn a cigar,
watch the smoke rise,
and listen to the fire crawl.

I’ve got nothing to say
other than I’ve got nowhere to be,
no one to see.

I’m here alone
to be alone.

Finally, after a long day, a short break.