For the Last Time
I’ve lived a full life
Drank from a half-empty glass,
then smashed the fireplace in shattered anger
The disappointments,
tolerated restive annoyances
Tasted the bittersweet liquor promises
of deceitful vows
made with truth-slurred lips
Always, at the end of each played act,
as the curtain dropped
Came the same melodramatic refrain:
(Cue the “Blue Danube Waltz” orchestral music)
“This is the last time ..”
But it never was
There was always a next time
A finger-wagging, tongue-slapping because:
it was never my fault, it was yours
Or someone else’s
A mysterious stranger was constantly
behind the steering wheel, wrecking my life
I was just a passive, drunk passenger
going along for the ride
Getting dropped off
at the prison house of someone else’s
troubled paradise
(All the windows had iron bars ...
there was no Shawshank way to escape)
No redemption
Or freedom soon coming
on the fuzzy britches dulled memory calendar
So I accepted my fate
It’s hard for a criminal heart to rehabilitate
My parole came way too late
Yes, I’ve lived an empty life
Drank from a half-full glass
Placed the bottled emotions on a low shelf,
sat in a comfortable chair by the fireplace
And sipped slowly ... stirring forgotten thoughts
with mellow ease
Letting the lonesome time pass
Copyright © Freddie Robinson Jr. | Year Posted 2018
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