Pills

If he wants me, he’ll take me

it’s not like we’re strangers

we’ve shared water and wine and

I’ve watched him take my friends

and my family, my heart, my dogs,

my daughter’s love, swallowed

the same way most people

take a pill;

If he wants me, he’ll find me

it’s not like I’m hiding, naw

I guess in a way I’m courting him

in the same manner as when I was

a child, still praying, afraid of the dark

swallowed, the way

most people take

a pill;

If he wants me, he’ll get me

that’s the way it works

there is no point in running,

or lifting, or writing, or guitar

anything really

if he wants me, he’ll swallow me

the way most people

take a pill.

Reviews

[R.E. Ray]

JR, I could read this as "he" is God or a higher being. "He" could also be the devil, a dark force, the speaker knows he might not be able to resist forever. Still, the speaker has apparently resisted the pills, unlike others mentioned in this poem.

What I read most in this poem is doubt, maybe from someone who wakes to a new battle everyday. Maybe it's mental, maybe it something physical, but it's something that weighs on the speaker. It's striking that something invisible (dark forces, God, devil, etc.) and something so small (pills) can exert so much influence over man, as you've expressed in this poem. This is a deep pain only the speaker knows, and well captured in a few well crafted verses.

[JR]

That interesting, I never thought about it from the angle of the devil... but I see how that totally fits here as well. You could go with either. My intention was more the idea of death, something that just takes someone so easily it's like swallowing a pill. Thanks as always for the read, I enjoy the perspective you have on these poems.

[R.E. Ray]

You're welcome, JR.