The Epiphany That Changed My Life

It was almost at the middle of my teen-age days, When mind, like a horse without bridle, found rough ways; Inner laissez-faire, like snake in dilapidated crack, set in, Legs, the way they found, aimlessly, anywhere broke-in; Parents and relatives resembled villains, who gave me grief, Warnings of elders seemed shell blown into ears of deaf, Bunking classes I went roaming with loafers just like me, At night, to movie theaters, second-shows, I went to see; Sessions of beer and wine too spontaneously started, Stronger among us tried to puff marijuana, whole-hearted; Church-going and prayers got stopped, like drying streams, Scruples troubled the nights, filling with deadly dreams; Peripheral flamboyancy exhibited many extravaganzas, Life, yet, often seemed empty like vague poetic stanzas; Youth, like that of Francis Thompson, in waywardness went-by, Till one day, boozed heavy, like a dead I had happened to lie; Compulsory confession and conversion was all suggested, Inner mind (as it thought) to these idiocies, protested; It's, then, when personal monetary bankruptcy crept, When friends, like migratory birds, my company left; My fiancé, finding me no more glamorous and glee, Dared to flee, with my extremely execrable enemy; Existence, like that of the prodigal son, fell absurd, With severest of stress and misery; insight blurred; Bike-accident appeared as last straw on camel's back, Hospitalizing me all my playful activities it did hijack; With weak limps when the brink of the grave I did reach, Wisdom, like epiphany, new morals to me did preach; Convictions coerced me to leave Sodom and Gomorrah, Be inspired perpetually by the enchanting divine aura; Repented; sins confessed; I am, then, a man reborn, Walk upright; my fidelity on the scriptures being sworn...! 17 August 2022 The Epiphany That Changed Your Life Forever Poetry Contest