The Boy He Never Met

Silence filled the air,

You could feel it, something has gone wrong.

He slammed the empty can on the table and stormed out the door.

 The engine of the car clicked three times

And then it started

He veered out of the drive way.

His vision is blurry,

 The street doesn’t seem right.

 He hears a honk and he jerks the wheel,

The swish of the cars that speed passed him seems much louder than normal.

He keeps his hands on the wheel as he slowly drifts right,

 There is a red blur and then a loud thud,

There is crashing on top of the hood

And then nothing,

He slams on his brakes,

The screech makes his skin crawl,

And then a blood curdling scream.

Young man lays in the middle of the street,

He’s not breathing.

He sits in a cell,

Thinking why did I ever leave the house?

Why did I need that drink?

What was I thinking?

He cries

He’ll never forget,

The blood of a young man,

Lies in my hands.

People surround that hole in the crowd,

All dressed in black,

To say goodbye,

To the man they never met.

A man he’ll never be,

Something they never feared.

A champion he was,

A champion will cease.

To think that he had a future,

He’ll never see,

All because of me.

And so the questions kept coming,

The answers never changed,

Then he joined the boy he never met,

Because of all of his regret.         

I would give everything,

Even my very breathe,

To change the day,

He took his first drink.

For him to just have one last chance,

To let go of the past. 

Maybe then that first drink,

Would have never had a chance,

And that boy,

Would still have a fighting chance.