# II: Los Cigarillos explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by James Weldon Johnson.

## What happens

The chapter paints a languid, dreamy picture of tropical life, where time passes in a haze of smoke and idleness, punctuated only by occasional revolutions that quickly give way to more smoking and dreaming.

## Themes in this chapter

### Resilience and Hope

Despite the apparent laziness, the chapter suggests a resilient spirit that finds peace and continuity in dreams and smoke, even after upheavals like revolutions.

## Key lines

> For life in the tropics is only a joke, So we pass it in dreams, and we pass it in smoke, Smoke⁠—smoke⁠—smoke.

Life in the tropics is trivial and fleeting, so we spend it dreaming and smoking.

_This refrain encapsulates the chapter's theme of escapism and the transient nature of existence._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_13_se/chapters/ii-los-cigarillos
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_13_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_13_se/chapters