It was quite a shock when I received the news;
how Irony could completely reshape someone.
When you were winning so, you could lose so much;
Fate sure has its way of dealing out in spades...
the low cards.
A birthday party unlike any other,
and you were playing the clown,
did something stupid without thinking,
and now you're paying the price for us all,
unconscious from your bed at the General Hospital.

It threw me back a dozen years,
or a hundred so it seems;
things I said and did without thinking,
the only price tag being a little embarrassment;
lessons learned in the schoolyard of Life,
that no teacher could ever teach.

It doesn't matter why you lept
on the trunk of the car;
state of mind is such a temporary thing,
yet we're all responsible for our words and actions,
and by the look of realization written across your face
as you tumbled off the back,
for you it was much too late.

Whether or not your friends knew
you were actually there,
we may never know for sure;
under the right or wrong circumstances,
Cocaine and alcohol make for bad companions,
when gripping the cold vinyl of a steering wheel.
And for those who had the nerve
to question your motives,
let us remind them of their own mistakes.

All in all,
without a doubt, one thing is certain...
though the rain may have already washed your blood
from the pavement,
it's another page that can never be erased
from the textbook of Hard Knocks.

© 1990
Revised © 2016

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09/20/2016

Posted on 09/20/2016
Copyright © 2024 Chris Sorrenti