I Choose To Live Poem by Donna McCord

She was just a kid when she picked them up and said, “I think I’ll try this”
But now she’s forty and realizes too late that smoking turned into a death wish.
How could she have known what damage it does at such a tender young age?
It’s too late now, her life is over and all she has left is her courage.

She speaks out against the rights of smokers to be able to smoke where they want.
It’s not fair to those who live smoke free to have to breathe smoke in a restaurant.
The die-hard smokers whine and moan that they are being treated unfairly.
It’s not that I don’t like you, it’s your habit I hate and I have a right to be wary.

I came from a family of smokers, you see, and they all died way too young.
I choose not to harm my body that way, and I refuse to bite my tongue.
I do not like it when you smoke around me and your smoke I am forced to share.
Pardon me please, but I think I have a right to partake of this nice fresh air.

I’ll share my clean air with you or if you choose you may go somewhere else to cough.
I like to smell flowers and spring in the air but don’t want something I can’t brush off.
So please, may I ask you to wheeze somewhere else, it’s very distracting you see
It’s your fault you can’t run, but I think it’s fun and I have my kids with me.

I’ll teach them to stay healthy and to be strong when someone offers them one
They’ll be able to stand firm and not to give in when someone scoffs and pokes fun.
One day I hope that the whole world will see that tobacco is the number one killer.
The only way it will make you cool is when it sends your dead body to the chiller.