Peter Todd, Poet

By Peter A. Todd 2/27/1988

It was the evening of New Years and all through my home
You could hear a pin drop as my son answered the phone
It’s the police my son said as he passed it to his mothers hand
Soon Dad will be home, won’t that be grand
For they had been up all night, waiting for me to come home
I was just out with the guy’s getting stoned
How was I to know they would be of anguished fright
As they sat with their dreaded fears all through the night
They came to the Hospital to see for themselves
It seems because of an accident I was not in good health
I was in a coma, having bad dreams
Oh! Dear God if you would just take away the screams
The ringing in my ears as if time had no end
A deathly message to my mind it sends
Why didn’t I listen to my family I loved
Then maybe I would not hear these screams from above
I was only out with the guys to have a good time
Its not my fault I didn’t see that double line
We only had a few drinks or was it more?
My minds so mixed up my head is so sore
Why is it my friends and family seem to be laughing at me
Yet the tears in their eyes I can so plainly see
This is no time to laugh, I am in pain
It seems to be me their all putting to blame
The room is getting darker I can just about see
Why is it this morbid cold air now surrounds me
Open this door can’t you see I am not dead
Its just a slight pain I now have in my head
Why won’t they listen to my cries and pleads
If only my heart would beat instead of bleed
At last they have come to set me free
Why are they putting these fancy cloths on me?
The time is passing so fast I can just about see
Why are my loved ones now crying over me?
All I can hear are their screams and their cries
One would think that I had just died
Its morning now I must of fell asleep
Why is this bed they gave me so soft and so deep
At last the pain is gone and I lay here alone
Beneath my self dug grave and scriptured stone
Forgive me God I was just out with the guys
If I had not had those drinks I would still be alive
I should have listened to my children when they said
PLEASE DADDY! DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE OR SOON YOU’LL BE DEAD