Back to the Mud

 Coffee over bedrest. Nicotine over natural pleasure. Darkness and smoke and fresh boiled bean. Burning the candle of lifespan from both ends. And then the withdrawals when a dose is missed, like cutting a wedge out of things. What drives a person to this end? Stress and lack of sleep-- the very things substances seek to replace or soothe, but they only delay and twist, putting it all off until later, later. And then much later, the smoker, the alcoholic, the straight-edger, the saint, the monk, the 'sober for forty years', all are gone. Back to the mud, no matter what happens.