Thirty Then... Poem by Marshall E Gass

Going astray was easy in those heady days
rocked by Woodstock and groupies
lazing in the limelight of nothingness
I felt liberated from cagey traditions
and floated free in beads and baubles
unkempt, unwise and soaked in sin and sex.

That's when I met the Master himself
at a midnight rendezvous in a quiet chapel
the night of January 7, '73
It rocked my world with wonder.

Here was an escape route from slow descent
into darkness and I took it. The return was slow
but steady upwards, even as I mended
all the broken parts of my life.

The before and after of the same coin
still cha-chings on and off but
sensibility returned and once the fences were
fixed and the lights switched on
the journey to recovery was quickened by reason

Today as I look back, the dark side of me
still beckons but the bright side draws
me into a place that has more meaning.
I am here to stay.

© Marshall Gass. All rights reserved,26 days ago