I Saw You and Did Nothing
“Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”
So I had this, like
awakening
or whatever.
And now I’m principled.
And I want you to know, I saw you.
I saw you and did nothing.
It was around 2 p.m. on a Saturday in June.
Not an outrageous time for a drink, not in times like these,
plus the sun was out and the breeze was nice.
You were on a sidewalk — not brunching on Limestone
traffic blowing by — you were hunched in the dark doorway of a shuttered business.
You were staring.
I saw you and did nothing.
You were staring at two bottles, a 20 ounce of Mountain Dew and
a fifth of vodka. Peggy Olson says vodka and Mountain Dew isn’t a cocktail, it’s an emergency. I saw the look in your eyes and recognized it, remembered it, felt it.
I saw what would happen next.
I saw what you saw, and the emergency is everywhere.
And from this particular vantage–
chasing Dark Eyes Vodka with Mountain Dew makes as much sense as anything else.
I saw you and did nothing. Next time,
if you’re still around for a next time,
I’ll see you and
2 thoughts on "I Saw You and Did Nothing"
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Not a cocktail, an emergency. – – Great line, sad story.
A grueling, necessary poem.