For my friend, Al

.


"TORTURED SOUL"




Helplessly I watched, as his life bled from his veins
Pooling for all to see
Though my head had to know where this was leading
My heart refused to agree

I stepped back into his life, from time to time
Attempting to force his hand
But he refused my many offers for assistance
Not seeming to understand

Always, he’d give me some sort of excuse
For his current situation
As I listened I’d find myself needing to believe
If only out of desperation

My heart wouldn’t allow me to imagine him as lost
And spiraling out of control
It would tell me that I should be there, not to chastise
But strictly to console

So I’d listen, get sucked in, and sympathize
Treat him with kid gloves
When what he really needed to straighten out his life
Was a lesson in tough-love

With a heavy heart, I feel that I let him down
As others do, I’m sure
Over time his demons flourished and became
More than he could endure

In the end, his tortured soul could find no shelter
In this mortal realm
So he set himself upon a path for self-destruction
Simply overwhelmed

If only I could have convinced him there were ways
His course to re-chart
If only I’d been intuitive enough to listen to my head
Instead of to my heart