I left you
my friend
I left you,
when drunken,
uncomprehendingly
disdainfully, shamefacedly
(isn’t that we were taught to feel)
I turned away
my friend.
Was I drunk? Were you?
Was it an accident
we cannot recover from?
Those questions
haunt us tonight
as I wait in this cell
I have been condemned
to inhabit
since I heard about your death.
I left you my friend
I left you all alone
whilst you partied
free of parental control
I turned away, my friend.
I should have screamed.
Would you?
would you have, did you?
you were but a child.
Those questions
haunt us tonight.
every parent every mother
waxing eloquent in daylight
whilst at night this cell
this cell I must inhabit
closes around me
the cell I earned
since I heard about your death.