They Said Sherry Would Make Me Merry Poem by Sarah Mkhonza

I went with the girls to the party,
Where we drank all kinds of drink,
Anything liquid went down slowly,
With an arrogance of youth,
For they said sherry makes us merry.

I learned a thing or two in that flurry,
Where drinks passed from hand to hand in a furry,
And got gobbled down like the very berry,
Out of which they were made.

I drank myself drunk with laughter,
When even walking was very blurry,
With girls' legs crisscrossing in a hurry,
Flip flopping down the passage
For we wanted to be the knowers.

The questions came back like a purr,
Of a cat that lost its path,
And came begging on all fours,
For two legs could no longer do it.

I supported a friend or two,
When we walked to the dorm,
Unable to bring to mind,
The happenings of the day.

We lay in our beds like cats,
The snores coming out in purrs,
The clothes lying all over,
Exposing naked youth and lack of knowing,
In youth who explore all things,
By pouring them and sniffing them,
Inserting them and gluing them,
Only to lie abandoned alone,
Outside the gates of heaven.

Our hair was speaking volumes,
Our shoes making us taller than giraffes,
Our pants flying in bell bottoms,
That rang very far from heaven,
Telling angels to be careful,
For the ones who were now knocking,
Did not even know their very names.

We were the youth who lived and lov,
And proved our youth was ours,
Through the fashions of the times,
And the dances of the current era.

They said sherry would make us merry,
Yet it did make me worry,
If we would survive till tomorrow,
To tell my mother not to worry,
For I was no longer sure,
If I was still the me who left home,
To return untouched by threats,
That had been said to exist in life,
When the yoke of youth lies heavy,
On the back of my friends and me.

Who baked this cake with marijuana,
And made it smell like vanilla,
Which we ate and then threw up,
Three times before morning came?
Who made these rules that are like this,
That leave us wanting if it was us,
Who lay soaked and drunk like the sponges,
That smell of beer not made of malt.

I swore on the bible I would never,
Again go to a party with friends,
And return wet as a river,
That fish cannot swim in,
For they know it is not safe,
For even dogs know even better,
For it drowns even the brain,
Which is lowered into its bottom.