It was his first encounter, an alliance in the womb.
A friend who brought him comfort in the placentary gloom.
In the silent, sloshy darkness, he was never one to fail.
The friend brought him his daily fix, he never had to wail.
At birth the severance was almost more than he could bare.
His happiness cut short, abandoned to another’s care.
He screamed for three long months, wouldn’t tolerate a hug.
His mother didn’t know that his first roommate was a thug.
The entrance into life was most abrupt in detox mode.
He had no way to tell them that his innards might explode.
But gradually he learned to tolerate the milky swill.
His appetite increased and he could always get his fill.
Then when he was twelve, something unexpected came.
He found his one-time buddy and now he had a name.
‘Welcome, welcome, friend, come into my life again.
I’ve always known that one day my lonesomeness would end.’
That’s how he beckoned him, his mouth opened wide.
And so the thief came in with a cool, indifferent stride.
But little did he know that such a one could be his foe,
Could steal his precious brain, could annihilate his soul.
At first the friendship grew as he took the strong elixir.
His shyness disappeared and he became a social mixer.
His adolescent awkwardness, acute timidity,
Especially with girls, was changed to male virility.
Is there any other way to achieve agglutination?
Are there any other remedies for social restoration?
How charming one becomes, how attractive, how refined.
How sophisticated any group who knows just how to dine.
It became a lubricant that helped him get employed.
A tonic to enhance every relation he enjoyed.
And finally with its help he went out and got a wife.
His future looking bright, he was a winner in this life.
Yet lurking in the shadows, his destiny awaited.
His long lost pal a harbinger of anguish unabated.
This friend was a magician, turned himself into a fiend,
Then made of him a captive to a master harsh and mean.
Progenitor of accidents and other tragedies.
The culprit of so many fights, of base brutalities.
Ravager of nuptial bliss and family unity.
Extinguisher of life and of all tranquility.
Most difficult it is to put the villain on the run,
To banish him forever from a life he has undone.
Ones only hope, to turn to God, The Clement and the Kind
To beg of Him His mercy, drink deep the hallowed wine.