Confidence of Youth

Some years ago
we young
auspicious
burgeoning adults
quested for
some local nosh
in Chinatown
successful
we sat and I
at my most
hubristic
ordered the spiciest
item on the bill-o-fare
delieverd
it was delicious
raptuours
at least at first
but soon
I realized my doom
my scalp began to tingle
face to flush
pours to spill
there rose a heat
that water, milk,
nor deep heaving breaths
could quelch
but I soldiered on
and stuffed my face
until my brain
hit an incendiary peak
and sanity itself
was on the brink
with white bursting
in my eyes
ears ringing
with cymbal crashing
nose, a torrential spigot
beaten, bested
I recovered in the bathroom
a modern day Icarus
humbled not by sun
but spice.