Sobriety?

The calming, steady hand of sobriety

For days and weeks and months

Holds and comforts

Soothes and cools

Dilutes the cruel

Guiding the hours

And steering the minutes

Sheltering from showers

And looming heavy clouds

All the while

Retaining the vision

But I reserve the right

For an intermission

To drop the hand

To stop time

To lose an afternoon

A day or days

To forget the need

For purpose

For drive

For steady-state

To punctuate:

A colon, a semicolon, a comma

A full-stop

While knowingly the hand is dropped

But when the circus leaves

And time returns to breathe

I again extend my reach

With outstretched arm

To once more hold the hand of calm

Riding twixt the two

Is a taxing, tricky business

And dancing with each mistress

May well lay the path for fools

But each holds more allure

With the promise of the other

27th Apr 2022