| My favorite lighter is dying. This is its epitaph.
The flame in it has begun to gutter and die, and it doesn't start after the first or second click like it used to. I just refilled it, and yet it still doesn't work.
This lighter and I have been together for a long time. Ever since my love gave it to me after finding it at a Manor party, the delirious summer of '99. It's reliably lit everything it has been asked to light, from the humblest GPC Ultralight in a 4 AM Dennys to the sweetest Djarum Black after a long and wild night in Seattle.
I'm bonded to this lighter. I can't lose it. It's never been stolen. I even found it again after losing it in the woods at night, alone with the woman who gave it to me. Went back the next morning, found it waiting for me.
I'm going to miss this thing. I don't know what's caused its recent ailment -- the electric starter still works fine; it's like something is preventing butane from getting through. I still have some hope that it will begin to work again, but if it doesn't... well, it has given long and faithful service on stormy night and summer's day, and for that I thank it. | 
