Snakes on the Wall

Snakes on the Wall

The night had quickly come,
My God, how did I get to this place?
I was a mere lad who’d yielded,
Mesmerized by a pretty face.

Too late to go back now,
The deed was now a fact,
But O what I’d give if I could recall
That one foolish and hasty act.

It was such an innocent thing
How was my sanity eclipsed?
But there was magic in her voice,
And my soul stolen away on her lips.

“Just one, it’s such a tiny little orb,
Come soar with me o’er the earth,
Become a god who rules the heavens,
Escape this place of your birth.”

It was small, encased in a red shell,
I downed it with a swallow of gin
And my brain started to vibrate,
In the cells somewhere deep within,

How long I slept I do not know
I awoke when my name was called,
And I lay on a cold sweat-soaked bed,
With snakes on the bed and walls.

Nine days I fought those snakes,
A battle I scarce could win,
For every time I started to gain,
She brought more pills and the gin.

Finally the snakes relented,
They left me for a better host,
And the siren took her magic beans,
And left me as pale as a ghost.

They came and found me there,
Red-eyed, shabby and soiled,
And asked how I have gotten that way,
And I told of the snakes and my toil.

They took me and cleaned me up,
Put food in my stomach again,
But I’ll always remember the snakes,
That changed a boy into a man.