When you were stoned and quarrelling with death
The drugs were cheering for your defeat in a psychedelic coffin

Through all this
Love was in the room
Somewhere
Hiding in the glaring strand of lampshade
In the tiny reflection of window
In your pot partner and hero
The one who phoned a paramedic-priest
To exorcise the chemical demons from your brain

As you spun about and ransacked your hallucination for sanity
The octopus of despair kidnapped you from the anchors of reality
Into a netherworld
Where warring cities of fish
Represented warring waves of madness

Your mind and body were becoming estranged
Bullied into joining rival gangs of dementia

You, however, survived
Caught in your hero's net
Pitched from sobriety's shore

This net was human arms
Reeling you through a fog of valium
Toward a lighthouse of welcoming embraces