Until, (A narrative poem)

They said I’d embody honor.
I was taught that life couldn’t be lived better.
A king’s knight, what could surpass such a position?
I was sold.
I trained, I fought, and I won.
I was the leader, the front man, the one who mattered most.
Life made so much sense. It was ME who defined what was.
Lives depended on me, and I responded.
I fought, I bled, I lived.
Until,

They said it’d help you straighten your mind.
I didn’t know better, life didn’t matter.
What’s heroin? What’s cocaine? What’s peyote?
I was sold.
Led my life into despair, dust clung to dust on my skin.
Yellowed, like a cigarette butt, my life wasn’t even life.
Life was whatever it was. I didn’t care, just needed to be gone.
I depended on no one; especially not myself. I was fragile.
I shot up, pushed myself into nonexistence, but lived.
Until,

They didn’t say anything.
I was taught by life.
An accountant, a lawyer, a fast food cook, and tens of others.
I had no choice.
I drifted. I sometimes loved. I was.
Got a family, and took care of them. Continued my life of blank stares.
I depended only on air, water, and land.
I moved, cared, tried, and lived.
Until,

You don’t think of it,
But life ends.
So I grasp, and breath, and try.
A battle gone wrong,
A shady dealer with a shadier drug,
A failing heart,
But no regrets, and no looking back.
A life lived. Lives lived,
Lives fulfilled,

And so they end,
Colors fade, lights epitomized in a tunnel of white,
The end.