A Wreck on Life’s Highway

 

 

I was motoring down life’s highway

At quite a crazy clip

Negotiating some difficult turns

Not even caring about a slip.

 

Oh, I was a fantastic driver

With quite a bit of skill

And knowing just how great I was

There was no chance of a spill.

 

In my early years there was challenge

With quite a few in the home,

So many mouths to feed

No television, no piped water or phone.

 

At primary school I was avoided

As though I were the plague,

At secondary school I buckled down

And those memories became somewhat vague.

 

I did really well at school

Though I never came first in tests,

But whenever the scores came back

I was always among the best.

 

University was not as easy

But I adjusted to the task

And when I graduated,

My achievements were all first class.

 

On leaving school I landed a job

That paid a good salary,

That was the beginning of the trend

That changed my reality.

 

I really began to enjoy life

And motored towards my dream,

I left that initial poverty

Way back in my slipstream.

 

Out of the turns and into the straights

I motored on with ease

Steadily increasing my speed

Enjoying the rush of the breeze.

 

The rough time I had growing up

Was a far and distant memory,

The thrill I now enjoyed

Was a thing of rarest beauty.

 

My family I had left behind,

So were the church and Sunday school,

That kind of controlled life

Was for the poor and wretched fool.

 

I was fast into my groove,

This was what I had dreamed about,

Dollars flittering through my hand

And carrying a lot of clout.

 

Then I was really somebody,

I was held in great respect,

I was well to do and held my own,

My past was my only regret.

 

In the circle where I moved

Were the persons that were rich,

They were born into wealth galore

And never fell into the ditch.

 

They often boasted of their past,

Their present and future were secure,

I had to put up with their lengthy boast,

To me my past was a bore.

 

Occasionally I would hear or read

Of the passing of a relative

But that would filter through my mind

Like the proverbial sieve.

 

I had no time for such,

Sometimes I would send a card

But to attend, no way!

Those memories were already quite hard.

 

I really wanted to forget

My horrid growing-up past

Even though among my company

I did not belong in their class.

 

They merely tolerated me

For what I could do for them,

The jobs that they could never do

It was I they would always send.

 

They had the wealth but not the brains,

I was the lawyer in the group

But to maintain my membership

To their every request I would stoop.

 

To me that was a small price to pay

For the reputation that I enjoyed,

Where they went I was also seen

I was one of their envoys.

 

Money… there was more than just enough,

Friends in high places… more than a few,

Dignitaries, celebrities, the rich and famous,

All persons that everyone wished he knew.

 

These were all known to me,

They were at my fingertips,

I was having the time of my life

Just being with them on their trips.

 

What a drive as I motored along!

What a scintillating experience!

Compared to the struggle that I once endured

This was a desirable variance.

 

As the dizzying results reached my head

My foot responded in kind,

To the floorboard I pressed life’s pedal

And enjoyed the passage of time.

 

I took an extreme delight

In many a poor man’s plight,

The fact of the matter really was,

His nighttime was my glowing light.

 

As he suffered I prospered,

His discomfort added to my gain,

His representation was to my benefit

Even though it caused his pain.

 

I was my superiors’ puppet

But the poor was under my control,

And every one that I deceived

Took me closer to my goal.

 

To be rich and wealthy was my aim,

Nothing else could satisfy,

Whatever it cost to stake my claim

Nothing or no one dare deny.

 

I may be a puppet on their string

But I also had a plan,

At some point along the way

I would play the ace in my hand.

 

I should have slowed to take that curve

Instead my foot had remained flat,

I showed what I thought had been an ace

But it was the joker of the pack.

 

My journey came to a grinding halt,

My car would not respond,

I cranked the engine again and again

But there was not a sound.

 

I looked around for my support,

None of them was around,

They had set me up for this hard fall

Now I was prison bound.

 

I was smart but they were smarter,

At the time I could not see,

What they had I really wanted,

I did not care what it would cost me.

 

And as I hurtled down life’s highway

My ace was from their deck,

Too late I realized I had been fooled

Now I am a total wreck.

 

A wreck along life’s highway,

Another wreck by the side of life’s road,

Intoxicated by avarice and greed,

I ignored the highway’s code.

 

 

Lying on my back on my prison bed

My view my prison cell ceiling,

A lifetime incarcerated here

And not a hope after appealing.

 

Freedom is a precious gem

And liberty a pearl of great price,

The love of money is snow on life’s road

And avarice is like black ice.

 

My driving days are over,

My license has been revoked,

My friends are rollicking with laughter,

I am the butt of their joke.

 

Time after time I pinch myself

To stir me from this dream,

But then I hear the clang of a gate

Or hear a prisoner scream.

 

O how I wish with all my might

I could turn back the hands of my clock,

If only at best to my early past

That’s far better than this prison block.

 

If you are young and being care free

Don’t drive, rather I advise, take a trek,

It’s a better way to travel along life’s road

And avoid becoming one of life’s wrecks.

 

Stewart Russell © 2015