The Junkie Shuffle (for Eric)

Greeting his fate

He welcomed it with hate

Sat up all night 

in dreadful wait

He'd begun to have to run

Swore it'd only be one

Thick and numb

21 and done

Now it's a full out flee

And there's no one left to see

How this fix would end

and lead death to my friend 

Obituary    Birthday,

Convulsion    Narcolepsy,

Neurotic    Raging Comatose,

Heart swollen    Timely Overdose

Cool   damp   slumped on the stair

Clumped   sticky blonde hair 

Ashen waif   the body gets harder

Lying swaddled like a martyr

Happy   now

unhooked   content
No longer hell-bent
In a peaceful vent

It's all been done before

Damn that mudslinging whore

Seductive    slinging the cure

But this cure    was too pure

Cliche'd death 

To be mocked and scoffed

By the deathly dances

Of the junkies that shuffle off

-BSW 1994