ONE WAY STREET
It wasn't so very long ago
That alcohol was king,
My mind would just fold under,
When the cocktail bell would ring.
I'd come home from work a mess,
And say 'I need a drink."
Soon my mind would be a mush
And my breath and body would stink.
Then one day I realized
My life would be the cost
Of staying on that well worn path
Of the dying and the lost.
I began with a heavy heart
A journey that I knew
Could only end in failure
But it was the only thing to do.
The first few bitter lurching steps
Were difficult to take,
The constant decisions not to drink
Were all I could do to make.
Then slowly, almost imperceptibly,
The mist began to rise
And the beauty of the sober world
Smote my hungry eyes.
In that sparkling moment -
That lucid drug free hour -
I found sobriety's secret
And robbed substances of power.
They had whispered in my ear
All those days and years
That they were basic needs of life
And fed on all my fears.
So as with liars of every type
And con artists of every kind,
I discovered the opposite was true
Which freed my body and mind.
Once I was free of drugs
For a sufficiency of days,
The decision not to drink or use
Became easier in many ways.
Drugs and drink are poisons,
They are sickness, dementia and worse.
Drugs are delusion, warped thinking
And a spiraling death curse.
To live, to love, to sing,
To write, to care, to think,
To do all that and do it well
Is to do it free of drink.
Bill Somers
9/8/2001
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