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Describes the night my friend & I stole a car, crashed & he was killed. |
My vision was blurred and my gate clumsy Those beers sure did a job on me Jim said “Let's go”, and opportunity knocked If only I had known what was to be “The keys are in it, Jim... let's go for a ride” But his face said what I should have known “No.” But I was having none of it Time for some peer pressure to be shown “What a pussy you are, Jim” And a look came to his eye My challenge had been to his honour “Ok,” he said...I didn't know the tears I would cry My smile was intense, but his silence said it all An unwilling passenger, along for the ride With no idea where to go, I just followed the path Laid out by fate...like being carried by the tide He did one last thing before he lost his life Perhaps he thought I was driving too fast I still remember it like it was yesterday Although forty years have now passed As we drove along that cold dark road Jim leaned over and across my chest My seat belt was then snapped into place Why not for himself, is anyone's guess In the distance, our destiny approached A broken-down car in the emergency lane Time and motion slowed, as we slid across that road Hitting an embankment, rolling over again and again I was hanging by the seat belt Jim had secured Jammed...along with hissing and the smell of fuel I looked for him but he was gone Who lives, who dies and who makes the rules? The enormity of it all I could not bear Overwhelmed by grief and the reality he had died I prayed to God every night, “God please, take me instead” Wishing it was a bad dream and we could again be side by side But prayers are only answered for the deserving So, I decided to join him...but the attempt failed Forty years ago, yet I still feel the pain Still wondering about his act and what it entailed Was it me, or was it fate who took him that night? Crying tears of sadness, regret and shame If I hadn't said to him, what I said that night Was it peer pressure to blame? I still ask myself why he did what he did Saving my life, but not his own A question which was never to be answered Until years later, two babies were born Twin girls so small they looked like dolls And when I held them, my mind was blown It dawned on me why Jim had saved my life And why he had sacrificed his own Because any change to our past And our present wouldn't exist at all I would never have held those girls Or watched them grow so tall When they had grown, I told them about Jim About his sacrifice...so they might live Our respect for him is immeasurable Along with all the love in our hearts we can give |