The man at the bottom of the glass

                             in a slur of sadness

       words stumbled from your lips

like drunken demons from the dark

                    abyss you wished to drop down into

                               in an attempt to drain your pain

                      with fermented grains of wheat

            and whiskey, to bite the bitterness

 

a disease of desperation

 

         which drowns the prisoner

                   not the pain

                              flooding the blood with frailty

                  and sorrow

                             still with room to spare for

despair: a black sparrow

             darting between branches of the body

 

             so, I sob"not for the arrows

                       you shot blindly in the dark at me

             but for the misery throbbing inside you

that no drink can bring death to

 

                    and I pray for you

to discover the strength blood brings

          when acceptance is reached

                   to learn how love can help

                              the addicted

          gain independence again

                  to know you were wrong

                             when you said

I am alone

          and that it is only true

                        if you want it to be

Reviews

[Kaitlyn Stone]

This poem was published by Widener University's Online Lit Mag called Blue Route:

http://widenerblueroute.org/current-issue/the-man-at-the-bottom-of-the-glass/