Substance

When I was a kid, I needed no booze,

No uppers or downers, no reds and no blues 

Neither LSD or ecstasy to make my day 

Not even weed to melt my problems away 

I saw drugs on TV and in pop culture reference

An occasional overdose for the headliner sentence 

I always assumed that would never be me

Why would I need a drug to make me happy?

Then I grew up.

It started with alcohol, the choice poison for most 

I wasn’t the first of my friends, but they often would boast,

“It makes things more fun!” ‘Twas their main deposition

It tasted kind of bad, but removed inhibition

Before I blacked out, I heard a little voice say, “Do I really need booze to have fun?”

Once I got to college, Mary Jane came with me

They had good stuff in Colorado, the purple and sticky

My days faded by, I hate to confess 

Smoking every day just to deal with the stress 

And every now and then, before I’d light up, that little voice chimed in my head. “Do I really need weed to relax?”

Shrooms entered next, I loved them immediately

I knew the right growers and could take them quite frequently 

Every trip I’d go on, they’d open my mind

New insights into life I’d regularly find 

Yet once in a while, before I’d blast off, that tiny voice would politely inquire, “Do I really need a fungus to know who I am?”

Enhancing a party with my acquaintance Molly

Or amplifying a concert with a pill of ecstasy 

Starting the night with a bump of cocaine

Hangovers were no issue, Xanax could handle the pain  

No matter how lifted I’d get, on my way down, that distant voice would faintly whisper, “Do I really need pills to feel alive?”

With so many drugs I had access nearby

And too many friends coming over to get high 

Eventually I tried whatever was offered 

“It’s all about experience,” my craving mind proffered  

Long gone was the boy who needed no drug

Who played in the woods and got high from a hug

Something’s not right, I alter my mind too much 

If my legs work just fine, why do I walk with a crutch?

Do I really need substances to just be myself?

And the voice, thank God it never gave up, responded:

“No”