Dale Poem by Randall Livingston

I didn't know you had trouble at home,
but I know how it is when you feel so alone.
Yet the game face comes on and
nothing is wrong till you twist the knob
walk in with a sob
and head for the nightly dose of poison.
Sometimes it works, more often it don't
cause that kind of pain goes clear to the bone.
You mull all the options
got murder on your mind, or a change of
location. Just leave it all behind.
A fevered craziness burns through your brain.
There's nothing to lose and an end to the pain.
You take your bottle out to the truck.
There's.44 that you tucked tween the seats.
Wind whistles through the pine and the air is sweet.
At that moment your options were few.
You did what you thought you had to do.
They found you four days later.
Your life could have been so much greater.
I know because a few seconds made all the difference
and I spoke at your wake.
The loss of a friend is hard to take.
R.I.P.

- R -