A Storm In Heaven, Sections 31-36

She left him there ruined, to drink and to brood For three years thereafter he held the same mood Trapped was the artist in a cubicle office space Torture for his feverish mind and heart now laid to waste Alcohol was life though he would never call it so But the bonds were too strong he still could not let her go Sorrow turned to anger, then to bitterness and hurt Many nights did he wind up crying face down in the dirt It was not long before his lifestyle took its toll And his vices had threatened to swallow him whole His liver long battered his kidneys near their end The doctor admitted he had but a year of life to spend Broken down and scared, the penniless loser fled Away from all his comforts for the country instead “There”, he had argued, “no one will have to see All the pain and all the suffering of the ugly end of me” Not far from the city Lyla Dawson did dwell With a successful career and a fiancée Johnny Bell They lived in the suburbs in a colonial on a hill With a view of the lake for which most would kill Yet her thoughts often turned on her old college friend Of his current whereabouts and the time they’d spend Talking endlessly in the library and watching the rains of the spring And how she could always rely on him for everything These thoughts crossed her mind on a hot summer day When the heavens tore open and turned the clouds black and gray A storm front lashed out savagely upon the world below A driver was fishtailing, but Lyla Dawson didn’t know With a sickening crunch the cars collided hard The accident was gruesome, with the driver barely scarred But Lyla and her boyfriend were less fortunate than he Johnny was in a coma, Lyla bleeding heavily As they were rushed to the hospital and I received the news I decided to call Ryan Adams, who was swimming in his booze The call disturbed him greatly and he said he would come soon Yet I saw no sign of the man that entire afternoon The story goes, a neighbor said, sickly Ryan dusted off his paints To muster one more masterpiece of his lover with the saints At last they were together, in that lovely afterlife Having waited for eternity to finally make her his wife