The Edge

     Recently I celebrated 3 years clean and sober. Last week I received word that a very old friend of mine, who I have not seen in years,  was found on the floor of her apartment with a needle in her arm after having forced 5 packets of Heroin into her veins. I was mortified when I hear the news.Suicide was in the back of all of our minds.  I had no idea she had immersed herself into an addiction that extreme. She managed to survive the ordeal and is currently doing a ninety day stint in a rehab facility. 
     Now, while I never experimented with anything as life-threatening as the big H,  I have done battle with alcohol and food addictions. It was bad enough to alter my life and threaten my health and security. I sat down and tried to express what I was feeling on paper. This is what I came up with.

The Edge

And with a breathless promise, your seduction lured me in.

You stole my soul, and trapped it whole,

there inside my virgin skin.

Glassy eyed, I stepped outside and stood  on  twilight’s ledge.

A one night stand, you  grabbed  my hand,

As I inched closer, to the edge.

I lingered in the darkness, afraid that I might fall,

Hypnotized and tranquilized,

my back against the wall.

And still you had this hold on me, so able to entice,

The treasured sin that pulled me in

It came at quite a price. ,

All that I had worked for began to slip away,

The black reality,  of  my  mortality,

Did so, consume my days.

I look now to my future, there’s nothing there to see,

I’m qualified for suicide

That’s all that’s left for me.

Oh yes, you kept your  promise, you said you’d never  leave,

and when I’m gone, you’ll linger on.

You’ll be right there to grieve.