A tragic tale about a young cocaine user.

The Echo

Chest pain for a couple weeks
On and off again,
Just a little twister
On a scale of one to ten,
Attributed to stress
At home or with employment,
There there's smoking, drugs and alcohol
To summarize enjoyment.

His brother had a heart attack
His mom has hypertension,
His daddy had a CVA
And something else, I'll mention,
He has elevated lipids
And a type "A" personality,
He was ignoring blatant signs
That he'd soon be a fatality.

He took too many hits
From that devil, crack cocaine,
Now he's screaming in the hospital
That he's dying from the pain,
Like a herd of angry elephants
Are standing on his chest,
It's tough to feel much sympathy
For his cardiac arrest.

Did he make it, no he didn't
He no longer is alive,
A sorry commentary
On a guy just twenty-five,
He had cardiomyopathy
An enlarged and boggy heart,
The cocaine tachycardia
Just blew the walls apart.

He was dead before the echo
Of his screams could fade away,
His family, in denial asked
"Is he coming home today",
And a stony sense of silence
Emanated from the room,
As a call went out to housekeeping
To bring a mop and broom.

Fibril_late; 6/93