Drawn the short straw a few times
Wasted days and nights spilling brine
Until I knew the fate of the naive
The gullible and the trusting fools.
They always face the long nines
Never again! I curse, the past hears!
It communicates in a short chime
With resolve I play hide and seek
With solitude and pathos I dine
I mutter “It’s lost, the precious time”
Past is absolute, the present is absolution
Uncertainty accompanies me as my lady
She walks on my failures with a smirk
Slaps my face with derision
But doesn’t leave my side as I drag on.
At the first glimmer of hope
She jumps up with excitement
Coaxes motivation to dress me up
With steel, armour and resolve
words whispered in my ear by persistence
I venture on and meet new people
I hear their stories and tell them mine
I close my books and walk away
When I find they’re sitting on cloud nine
Onwards I march on to the next in line
The phone rang and I hear a voice
Of an old friend and a brother by choice
Emotion released from behind my eyes
I wept unrelenting in torrents and tides.
Then I met myself from another life
I stood there, beaming as I shook my hand
Optimism nudged me from the side
It winked and made me smile
I walked with them, laughed and made merry
Opened a bottle and poured each one a glass of sherry.
