Poetry by Dave Jaffe. Poem called "Take A Pill and Head South'.

Take A Pill And Head South



Come.
 Let's sneak away to the sunny south
 Far away from the grey skies.

 You won't have to sit
  In squashed airline seats.
  Or wait for hours
  In long impatient lines
  Of passengers.

  It's really simple.
  At three in the morning
  Swallow half a tylenol and codeine pill.
  Close your eyes
  And you're off.
  Away from winter grey
  That swirls outside
  And inside your head.

  Go away from the rains
  That drip endlessly in your mind.
  Then suddenly
   You're floating
   In tropical skies
   That move past you in homage to your arrival.

   Now you watch
   Afro-Cubans dance
   Churning the air with their energy.
   They dance
   In faded dance halls
   Rimmed with dust
   Or cash filled casino floors in Havana.

   You see
   Parakeets in red and yellow
   Plunge into cobalt blue waters.
   Or they let their feathered wings
   Gently brush the cannabis-dazed beards
   Of grounded Jamaican rastas.

   Palm trees sprout on the borders of beaches.
   Or they bow to you in the wind
   As you walk past them.
    Hotel windows open or move in random creakiness
   Blown back and forth by the blue air.

   Sometimes
   Clouds scurry across the warm sky.
   Or a three course meal
   Churns your stomach.
    But mostly
   You lie on a gentle beach
   And live in warmth and love.

    Your spirits soar
    Like a faraway parrot
    That climbs in its blazing colours
    Into the blue dish of the sky.
    Far far away from pain
    And rain
    And rain.