A Mass of Spirits

A Mass of Spirits

 

(A Reflection on Alcoholism)

 

I rue thee, ruddy, smiley face;

 

I rue thy potted grin;

 

For it is like a japer’s mask

Worn by the worst of men!

 

Best to be sober,

Without cheer;

 

Best to be

 

Set apart

 

For when I ride a braying a*s,

A stumbling seems to start

 

I rue thee, ruddy, smiley face;

 

I rue thy common way

Of calling up my naked self

 

With “Life-in-Death” to play![1]

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[1] The poet was subject to periods of intense anxiety, insomnia, and chronic depression from 1965 to 1970. His protracted use of alcohol and other mind-altering drugs eventually pushed him over the edge, and he sought treatment at St. Barnabas Hospital in Minneapolis. There, he languished for two months. Although he would never again feel secure about the state of his mental health, he went the next half-century drug-free and often happy.

“Life-in-Death” is a character in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s, “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.” She plays a game of dice with “Death” and wins possession of the Mariner; Her skin is described as being “white as leprosy” and she is one who “thicks man’s blood with cold.” Many believe her appearance in the poem is a reference to Coleridge’s laudanum addiction.