Alchemisland

Use went from sparing to daily 

Used get it mailed in 

Rip open the pack and rail it the second it came in.

Coke and horse, my arm invaded 

The syringe impaling 

Like the razorhoned beaks of the venom-leaking birds of Stymphalia

Heart slowly failing, in the palliative cupboard below the clothes railing.

It wasn’t something I paraded,

So I shunned the daylight

Walking the night, like a spirit apparated.

I had all the heinous apparatus 

Debased in my squalid basement.

My only friend was the mailman.

I put boards over the casement,

Became addiction’s favourite plaything.

They tried to save me,

But you know how that case went.

All day spent getting bent out of shape,

Every cent spent buying heroin, high grade.

When that fateful day came 

They rammed my door off its frame like it was a drugs raid 

I hate the way that I’m portrayed,

Hate the notion that I’ve betrayed.

Done all the drugs I’m able,

I’m both Cain and Abel.

Nose ruined by Cain,

Shoot where available,

Ruined veins thick as cable.

It was around day three 

Of this sordid, drug soaked scene 

Flesh filthy, and soul pristine,

Going down a bad road,

Demanding we proceed.

I imagined them holding charity shows in my name 

Donating the proceeds to other blameless junkies

Putting muck into their veins.

I sunk into the couch, left horrible brown stains,

What was me had been erased.

Eyes sunken, skin pale

Near to faceless

Sitting up in a sitting room grave,

TV static’s flickering light a blueberry blaze

Like I was at a rave.

Rotten and foetid, a junkie unfettered 

Only noticed when my fix money went unclaimed

Died surrounded by well-used pipes,

Bellies blackened from lighter flames.

They wrote my obituary years before.

Started feleling a little Layne Staley,

Dejected, gear injecting,

Body identified from dental records.