Dominic Middleton | + Follow Poet |
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A Christmass Gift That Slippery Slope

I walk back
Along the path
That once
Filled me
With tribulation
Each bend
And stumbling block
Another knife
In me back
I still see
Anger
Splayed across faces
And hands
Going for hilts
Would be my blood
Spilt this day
Not yet
Time for retribution
I need 
Desire
To find
Paths end
For I thirst
For salvation
Not
A bitter end

Strange
I find myself
Selflessly
Walking
Backwards
Along these
Beaten paths
Like a
Tourist would do
Over old forgotten 
Battlefields

This be where
I slay
The dragon

This rock
Is where
I spoke 
With Angels

This be where
They tried again
To end 
My life
again

This is the valley
Of angry faces

This is the house
The clay peoples
Reside

And this 
Desert
I wondered
Lost
For years

Here
Be the Evil witch
That condemned
Me their

This be where
I was gunned down

This is the oven
I was thrown into
To spend a lifetime
Getting out

And so 
On I walk back
Through time

I had forgotten
About the slippery slope
I stand at its base
Looking up
At you

Yes you 
Are me 
A Lifetime
Ago

With sure footing
I make my way up
Finally
I get to sit
And talk
With you

We look out together
Past the slippery slope
To the many paths
Presented to you

I tell you of lows 
And very lows
where these paths lead

Some 
You may walk along
And never return
As the demons that live their
May be
Your undoing

I talk of inner strength needed
The 
Honesty
To oneself
And how truth
Can kill
But so can
A lie 
Lived

I can’t save you
From yourself
Your demons
Your life

But I can
Hug you
With my love
That weighted blanket
I share
Against the chilly
Ill winds
Of life

I offer you
Stories
And one or two
Antidotes
But that’s
All

As these paths
Are dark
Very lonely
Very shellfish
And that’s
OK
As the end goal
Is a
Living
Healthier
Happier
You

I wish you well
As you stand
To re-join the party
Knowing
That with drink 
In hand
You’ve Already
Started
Down that 
Slippery slope

Copyright © Dominic Middleton | Year Posted 2020

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