Ashes and Echoes

I danced through smoke and amber haze,

Through whisky nights and reckless days,

With laughter loud and caution tossed,

Not counting gain, not fearing cost.

The clink of glass, the draw of flame,

Each vice, a lover with no name.

The velvet dark, my silken friend,

Where nights began but never end.

I feasted on what dulled the soul,

Each salty bite, each sugar roll.

A junkyard king with belly round,

Who never heard his body’s sound.

Sleep was for the slow and tame,

I chased the pulse; I played the game.

Cigars like sermons, thick with smoke,

A holy rite I never broke.

But now I wake to brittle bones,

A failing heart that hums and groans.

My breath is thin, my muscles weak,

My thoughts confused, my future bleak.

The mirror shows a hollow face,

A man undone by heedless pace.

If I could wind the clock once more,

I’d walk a wiser, gentler shore.

I’d trade the liquor for clear streams,

The haze of smoke for cleaner dreams.

I’d learn to rest, to breathe, to eat,

To bless the ground beneath my feet.

Now prayers rise where toast once clinked,

My soul more still, my body blinked.

I beg for time, just one more year,

To live with love, to walk in clear.

If I had my time again, I’d see,

The joy in life lives healthfully.

Too late, perhaps, but still I try,

And whisper thanks into the sky.

Vince, 2025