Richie

"Richie"

Hey Richie, remember when we were young?
And the world was our playground; the dirt and the sun,
Remember the Fridays of Sega and games,
The skateboards, the Legos the fun, all the same

Do you remember the girls at the county fair?
The one that I crushed on with the golden blonde hair,
We all had such smiles as we laughed and we played,
I miss those days, Richie, though memories fade

And hey Richie, I remember it well,
When you moved with your father and so began hell,
My heart tore in half, left bleeding alone,
I couldn't move pass it, I needed you home

And after those years when you finally came back,
The pills and the booze kept our friendship on track,
We'd both grown dear of our chemical hugs,
I miss you Richie, with all of my love

What happened to us Richie? We'd both grown dead,
Our worth measured surely by the buzz in our head,
OxyContin for this and Xanax for that,
A shot of Jack Daniels to lube up the tract

Hey Richie, remember when I got clean?
Man, you were so proud that I followed my dream,
I'm in school for engineering now, just thought you should know,
I never thought less of you, but I had to let go

It's been a couple weeks now, I'm unsure how I feel,
A lifetime of memories, both vague and surreal,
Why didn't you follow? It angers me so,
You could have veered right at the fork and with me you'd go

You could have followed me Richie, I wanted it so,
I wanted your strength, I wanted your glow,
I wanted your help and I needed you there,
But it's too late for that now, I'm pulling out hair

I hated your struggle, I hated myself,
I hated your wife and I hated your health,
I hated those drugs and I just feel so sick,
I hate how you shot up that last little bit

I'm sorry I couldn't do more, I'm sorry you'd changed,
But you can finally be at peace and undo that tourniquet of chains
Rest easy now Richie, cause this is the end
I'll love you forever

-Your childhood friend