Sweet Lady Abstinence (Poem)

After 2,000 nights of the bottles bashing in my skull and after 2,000 mornings of wading through fog, Pacific-deep, I finally gathered enough grit and guile needed for going after my ego's Cranium.
My "Oswald" deed resulted in a direct hit.

Trickles of hope and encouragement began to quench me once more whilst "it" lay in critical condition.
When its status was upgraded to "serious" though, I knew it was as good as "fair."

All the "Can I borrow 20 buckss?," the "I can't come visit because I'm sicks.," and the false "Oh life has been really blessed for me latelys." pile up 'til the point you can't bear to even traverse kiddy pool depths of vulnerability or helplessness among kin and peers.

You know the years you spun the countless tissues of distraction and deviation would devastate them,
while also knowing your lack of confession will lead you to certain self-detonation.

'Tis why the former Dallas socialite, formerly sought-after, highly, was my chosen refuge.

Although 30 years older and shaped by vastly different regions and religion,
the sinew pronounced in her digits and the prevalent and protruding eye pouches
suggested she, too, had tip-toed on Liquor Lake's slippery boundaries
and had survived for the purpose of sharing just why and how.

She dodged the alluring nighttime's snare and knew she had--one of the few who escaped and who knew, with certainty, they'd gotten away, not those who thought they were never in danger of drowning.

She indulged in yesteryear's tales, entailing stories of sports players, cinema stars, and civic celebs--accounts, at first, nursing my ego right back to vigor, with their hints of warm and bubbly, ooey and gooey, and tickling and tingly appeal, kindling the soothe of nostalgia's Jacuzzi.

My ego thought it'd found refuge
when it found, instead, exposure
to winds and rains of heaven.

I let her know of the 2,000 nights and mornings, and she made it plain, she granted zero S's nor F's, her right to do so, when neither the left nor right ankle fell victim to the shackle.

No, "Ah it's okay babys" or "I'm here to help you any way I cans" for me. Her, a stranger, just saying, "If you ever feel like drinking, just come over and I'll knock the teeth out of your mouth," busted the taste of booze out of it more severely and soundly than any kin or peer might ever could.

From the Soul,

#Alcoholism, #Alcoholic, #Addiction, #Healting, #HealthAndWellness, #BlackExcellence