“Was it so late, friend, ere you went to bed, That you do lie so late?”

• Macduff to the Porter in "Macbeth, Act II, Scene 3"*

Lines of smoked (ay! fine expensive Cubans those coal red pieces must have been) verse and metaphor kept this Porter up after he hauled home a load of cheap second hand books** all stamped with the signature “Sturgeon” on the front piece.

*Look up this scene for a pithy summation of what drink does to masculine erotic drive. **Five in number for $1 each because the yellowing pages were redolent with Mr. Sturgeon's cigar smoke; this almost made me wish I could maro suttas as well.