Saturday, September 14, 2013

Light At The End

The warm bowl fell from his grasp
like an unwanted gasp falls from ones lips.
He had had his fill of it anyway.
He reached for the bag of chips
but they were too far away.
He let out a long, wheezing rasp.

Maybe he could still get something out of the nearby booze.
He tried but, no, he had drained that as well.
Out of mind-altering substances he was at a loss.
He did not even have anybody around to tell
about his failures and his work, his asshole boss.
Nothing to do but try to take a snooze.

That did not work either though.
So, he just sat there, bored to tears
and unable to do anything about it.
He then realized his fridge had several beers
in it.  He tried to get up but, shit!,
how he got so messed up he did not really know.

It just happens over a period of days.
Builds up slowly and then washes over you
like morning dew over a freshly-cut lawn.
He felt like he had lost one shoe,
but upon looking he had to just yawn.
He had lost them both in the rising sun's rays!

After several hours he woke back up.
He seemed to be straight again, so he rose from the chair.
He was wobbly but he could make it to the fridge.
The beers were still there!
The shadow of the nearby sandy ridge
fell across the room as he began to sup.

The baloney went down good with the beer.
He had seen it hiding behind a can.
Slathering it with mustard, he ate it like a starving man.
Satisfied, he let out a grunt that sounded like a small cheer.
Fully awake now, he went outside thru the back and just ran.
Ran and ran.  The wind in his hair was like from an electric fan.

He ran, ran, ran, ran, ran.
Finally he stopped.  His shoelaces had come undone.
He reached first for his hip flask and sucked the sharp liquid down.
How far had he sank, this mere vestage of a man?
Where all he could do with his problems was to run
from them.  What a clown!

All these years later, he had never recovered.
The thought of Her just too painful for sobriety.
But this time his thoughts took a different tack.
He had built up a certain notoriety
with all of his shinanigans.  His obvious lack
of care for himself.  His real self smothered.

But now he thought, as he passed the Cathedral.
he should re-enter the world of man.
So, he stepped inside for morning Mass.
In there he felt something reach down inside him that was real.
Deep down inside, grabbing hold of his very soul, wan
as it was.  Knocked him around a bit, knocked him on his ass!

He did not take the Eucharist as he had a lot of confessing to do first.
Many years worth.
But his feet were set now on a new path.
He had taken the well-traveled road of Frost.
Now he would thread the needle's eye.
He dared the world to do its worst!
He had already seen most of that here on this old rock called Earth.
He would likely feel the anger and wrath
of the new "friends" he would now leave behind, no longer lost.
So, he began his new journey with grit and a large sigh.

It would be a tough mountain to climb.
But climb it he would.
Not just because he should.

But because he, at long last, wanted to.

It is, afterall, what She would have wanted...

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mindbringer, 13 September 2013