You’ve never lived

You’ve never lived

Until you’ve woken up

At the bottom of the stairs,

With a pillow under your head

A bowl to throw up in

Your shoes in the rack

Coat hung up

On a hook

And a blanket to cover

Your legs.

It is better than

Face down

On a table in the pub

Falling off a wall

Into a cemetery.

A necropolis

Full of dead things

Landing in nettles

Getting caught up

In bramble

Walking the long way home

Via a holding cell

In the cop shop

(I didn’t try to steal the car

I could hardly stand up

I was just admiring

A Morgan)

Sleeping all night

On a bench

In a bus station

Being mistaken for a tramp

Moved on by the rozzers

Sleeping in a ditch

By the side of the road

Thinking the stars

Were the most beautiful things

You had ever seen

Ending a weekend

After an all-nighter

Playing jazz in Soho

With your money

Stolen while you slept

Potless

And clueless

A carrier bag

Full of empties

Being treated to a bacon sarny

By a striptease artist

Who remembered seeing you

In the dressing room

Between sets

Walking twenty miles

With no money

In your pocket

To this day

Wondering how you

Were left behind

Watching the girls go by.

You’ve never lived

Until you’ve tried

Your hand at pretending

To be sober

Under the lights

Rhyming couplets

Keeping time

Believing you are

God’s gift

When you are

Most certainly not.