The Leaves of Eden Fall

I’m fed up with the world

I’ve just spent my last bit of cash

Drinking with my buddies

While my wife and child

Lie sleeping

Depending on my knack

For making money

I used to be so good

Hell, I reached the top

And today, I know,

If I don’t make ends meet

Me and my family

Won’t have a roof over our heads

I have made men

Throughout my life

They thank me

Yet never lend

A helping hand

Curse the lot who used me

For their own ends

Even my family reckon

I should take “responsibility”.

Responsibility for what?

An economic downturn?

A world crisis?

Inflation?

A fucked up and corrupt government?

How is this my fault?

Why am I to blame?

What happened to the country

Where I had rights?

The right to live

The right to succeed

The right to give?

I am used

Abused

At the end of my tether

Drunk and disorderly?

F**k you! I have nowhere else

To turn

Screw the system

They never gave anything to me

I have a right to protect my family

And some soddy m**** f****

Thinks he can rule over me

Is this fair?

What have I done wrong?

I have helped as many as I can,

And now have no one to help me

Even in the smallest way

Censor me if you will

You heathens. Try and stick your paltry

Duct tape over my mouth

But you hasten to silence the true patriots

The true heady lovers of this country

Hypocrites. Even blood betrays;

Blood turns away.

Blood pitches itself up as my enemy

The only one I could have turned to

Is gone.

My brother who made life meaningful

Where are you now?

The no bullshitting, outspoken,

Bridge-builder of a man

Young in years, old in spirit…

I miss you

God, how I miss you!

Life would be so much easier

With you here

God knows I’m no philosopher

Yet tears pour down my face

As I write these words

I’m no poet either

But what wicked force compels me

To write these words

Inebriated I am, drunk, not in my right mind

My friends, as drunk as I, have just left.

And here I am

Head spinning,

A dam about the burst

For the sake of my loved ones

Words flowing out of my fingers as I write

Not knowing where I am going

Not knowing where things will end

Time is running out

I am almost done

I am on the edge of losing

SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!

Yet nobody answers

Who am I to them?

When they have problems to equal my own

Why can’t we pool together

To make a change

Why can’t we support one another

To do whatever we can

To make sure we survive?

Therein lies the problem

Where we could assist

We become selfish.

Only the crooked survive

Only thieves proper

Only murderers thrive

I’m done.

I said I AM DONE!

And yet I hope and pray for some miracle

Maybe someone would take

The time to read this

And care; even a little bit

For if I don’t see even a glint of hope

Then hope will be lost

As lost as I am

Stumbling in the dark.

I tell myself things will get better

But they don’t

So before my wife despises me

Before my daughters shuns me

Somebody help me!

Somebody... please...

Silence.
No answer...

The leaves of Eden have fallen

The tree is left bare

Its roots are exposed and the weevils and termites

Bore their way to the heart of paradise

It is finished...

All what must be said and done

Is said and done

There are no new

Leaves or buds

No shoots or even moss growing on

An empty outer shell of a once magnificent tree

It is finished…