An Oath Of Temperance Poem by David Tremain

Release - certainly. What I need
However is not the occasional liberty
Of chemical calm, bottled jollity,
But the real freedom of an unchained mind:
Freedom to breathe, see, think clearly,
And be the man I think I know I am
And not the one inside the can.

I recognise before I find the happiness I feel sometimes
Denied, that all I need for laughter's there in living,
And drinking - drinking only leaves
A mess: a little harder to clean up each time.

No more on account of me will the evening's laughter
Be the morning's sorry consolation.
No more the frightened reconstruction - what said? what done?
No more the frivolous release
Of care, control, restraint.

And through regret and broken teeth,
The taste of resolution comes.
This time, I think, I've had enough.