The prompt from “Poets and Storytellers United” this week is to write something relating to “Celebration”.
One of the things we associate with celebrations in the Western tradition is to have a drink… People drink alcohol for a variety of reasons, including celebratory, social, personal, and even self-medication purposes.
Some common motivations include stress relief, social lubrication, enjoyment, and coping with mental health challenges.
Alcohol consumption can also be influenced by environmental factors, family history, and cultural norms.
For people who are not drinkers, a substitute may need to be used. Drinking the light of the shining moon perhaps?
Drinking Moonshine
Tonight the moon fell into my cup
Was drowned; and dissolved all up.
The stars fell down as golden rain
To assuage my loneness and the pain.
Tonight, I’ll drink the fallen moon
And sup on stars with silver spoon,
To make the blackest night less dark,
Less silent, as I try to clear your mark.
Tonight the clock seems stopped
As minutes drag, the hours dropped.
I drink the moonshine, swallow stars
In hope the potent mix will heal my scars.
Tonight, your absence all the more acute
My thoughts run after you in vain pursuit.
The drink burns more than any spirit neat,
In deep swallows it’s drunk, my pain to cheat.
Tonight is black; of moon, of stars bereft
As dregs of moonshine are in my cup left;
My sweet star-meal has a bitter aftertaste
My empty night has my soul embraced
Tonight I’ll stay awake, despite my drink
My mind too full of you to think;
My heart too empty, and my bed too cold,
Tonight I feel deserted, frozen, old…
This poem is set to music, and you can find all references to my music in my “Otidorchestre” channel, or listen to it on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, Deezer, Flo, Pandora, and other music sharing sites.
I broke my ankle at the end of last year and thought a few months in a knee-high cast would largely solve the problem. 6 months later, I thought I would try alcohol as a way of reducing pain, given that drugs seem scary.. and addictive. Hopefully sleep will arrive, tonight 🥱
ReplyDeleteI like the moon image in a cup. You express well how even a mystic healing balm doesn't necessarily cure what ails us.
ReplyDeleteThe moon will keep us company, and hear our stories.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading your poem. :)
"Tonight, I’ll drink the fallen moon
ReplyDeleteAnd sup on stars with silver spoon,"
I'm thinking found, the spoon that the dish ran away with? Really I was thinking more the homebrew wine that my friend's uncle made in his cellar. We would often fill our jug to drink as we cruised the city. It was good stuff. Every poem of yours I marvel over, ryme and meter. Been a long time since I used the rhyme. I do like to keep the line syllable count the same though.
Beautifully penned. The substitutive drink of moon shine is really alluring though not ameliorative. I really loved every word of the poem.
ReplyDeleteA new interpretation of moonshine! And very apt, as the moon is often considered the muse of poets. With the music, it's very lovely.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful words
ReplyDeleteDrinking the light of the moon is better for the liver ;-)
ReplyDelete