Reality And Sanity. Poem by david lessard

He was drunk
and her struck out
at her
and I saw
flashbacks
of myself,
twenty years earlier.

The pain of
the world
is too much to bear
on one pair of shoulders.
Drinking and smoking
to escape the
reality of it all,
it's futile
and fleeting.
The only way
to accept reality
is with reality.
The only way to
reject authority
is to conform to it.
Fighting's usless.
They are
stronger and
better armed.
What do you win
when you go to jail?
You win nothing,
but you lose time
and sanity.
I see myself
in young strangers,
alien adolescents
who attempt to
become adults
before they're ready.
It took a long time...
but I finally achieved it...
acquiring reality
and keeping my sanity..