A Wineskin

"A kind man placed a cigarette between my lips, and perhaps when it fell, the earth itself drew a breath from me through gravity. A worm in my mind felt a surge of ecstasy. Yet the pangs of conscience never left; I still felt the pain. And when the raindrops later touched me, I knew that no roses would ever bloom from my cells—like a grain of wheat that rotted before it could die.—Did you ever wis...