*-._.~ 2007... Or... A Year In The Life Of An Alcoholic's Wife ~._.-* Poem by Lee Degnan

Out with the old
Ring in the new
It's coming to a close
Change is overdue
I'm feeling restless
Nowhere to go
How quickly a year strips
of all that you know?
I look back on it now
what I thought I was
A woman coming into her own
steps so sure, without pause
Made a few friends
and thought I was good
A new definition in life
what I wanted, understood

Didn't care to
keep my nose clean
Didn't forsee
what losing really means

So sure the good Lord
looks out for people like me
never too much to handle
this of which I was worry-free
Such a glorious thought!
but never in my wildest dreams
Would I come to watch
my world tear at the seams...

2007.
I'm not impressed.
Mom's now in heaven
My marriage in distress
I can't keep holding on
for what would I get?
Frustrated for what's now gone
and a year full of regret

So I ring in the new year
Clean slate from the old
And although my path is not clear
the next right thing will be told
I've gotta come out of
this depressing little shell
My intentions for 2008
is to break from this living hell
Seems so simple just
to write it out on paper, ya know?
If I do the right things
I can later reap what I sow?
Then what the hell
was 2007 for?
For me to just shake my head,
turn away from, and close the door?

Out of my rooms
of tales of woe
were people of courage
and who I've come to know...

As for the good Lord
looking out for people like me
not giving too much to handle...
Bullshit, times three.
Such a moronic thought!
but never would I believe
that in 2007 was the year
He tried to get His message...
To me.

2007.
It's me you're not defeating.
Mom may be in heaven
but I'm done retreating
I've held on for so long
for fear of losing out
Only to realize I've given
events of 2007 too much clout.

So I pray that 2008
I get to eat my words
Of what it was in 2007
that made it for the birds
I wish all of you
your own clean slate too
To make your 2008 happy,
the year that can change YOU.


Lee Degnan, c.2008