"My Cigarette" (1880)
Words from the
Harvard College Crimson
Composed by
A[rmand]. E[dward]. Blackmar [1826-1888]

New Orleans, LA: A. E. Blackmar & Co.
[Source: 17405@LoC]

1. My Cigarette! Can I forget
How Kate and I, in Sunny weather
Sat in the shade the elm tree made,
And roll’d the fragrant weet together?
I, at her side, beatified,
To hold and guide her fingers willing,
She rolling slow, the paper’s snow,
Putting my heart in with the filling.

2. My Cigarette! I see Kate yet,
The white smoke from her red lips curling,
Her dreaming eyes, her soft replies,
Her gentle sighs and laughter purling!
Ah! dainty roll whose parting soul
Ebbs out in many a snowy billow,
I too, would burn if I might earn
Upon her lips so sweet a pillow.

3. Ah Cigarette! The gay coquette
Has long forgot the flames she lighted,
And you and I, unthinking by,
Alike are thrown, alike are slighted.
The darkness gathers fast without,
A raindrop on my window splashes;
My cigarette and heart are out,
And naught is left me but their ashes!