My body, it aches, though my mind is still spry.
For decades four I’d drowned my woes with wine,
But now, head clear, I see with sober eye.
I miss the loves that had passed aside,
The wife and babe I’d lost to drink and rage.
For all those years, sweet family was denied -
A hopeless fool locked in addiction’s cage.
Now lively lasses laugh and flirt by near,
Reminding me of charms forever gone.
Though I feel young, to them I do appear
A doddering fool, so old and bent and wan.
With clarity I see the waste laid bare -
A life besot by wine and full of sin.
No chance to redo what wasn’t done with care -
My life a tragedy, all that could have been.
So to the youths, a warning I do bring -
Turn not to wine, nor waste thy life entire!
Make not my error, else thy heart shall sting -
Let virtue guide thee, lest thou reap my pyre.
--William C., Adult