[fraankie]

<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:date Month="2" Day="19" Year="2001">19 February, 2001</st1:date><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

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Once upon a <st1:time Hour="0" Minute="0">midnight</st1:time> scary
as I wandered drunk and weary,<o:p></o:p>
My can of bud ever so handy,<o:p></o:p>

Stumbling along, mumbling a song, <o:p></o:p>

thinking, hoping, praying for one more chivas regal
to make this blackout a dandy<o:p></o:p>
“A drink, just one more”
I hear some bird say so clearly<o:p></o:p>
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My vision blurring, my speech is slurring<o:p></o:p>

as another bloodymary I am pouring<o:p></o:p>

“Who the heck is that” I mumbled <o:p></o:p>

guzzling a gallo port I stumbled,
gently stumbled<o:p></o:p>
As suddenly there came to my chamber door<o:p></o:p>

A banging, a gentle banging<o:p></o:p>

Almost a clanging as my head starts spinning,<o:p></o:p>

a gentle spinning,<o:p></o:p>

once again, my sweet lenore <o:p></o:p>

John Barleycorn is winning<o:p></o:p>

“A drink, just one more" I hear some bird say so clearly<o:p></o:p>
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“I’ll be there in a second” I mutter<o:p></o:p>

My chamber now seems so full of darkness,<o:p></o:p>

my life seems so hopeless, <o:p></o:p>

my song is so pointless<o:p></o:p>

“why don’t this bird stop rapping,
a gently rapping.<o:p></o:p>
leave me in my misery,<o:p></o:p>

a gentle misery, forevermore” I stutter<o:p></o:p>

“A drink, just one more ---- NEVERMORE” I hear some bird barely

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again I hear a knocking;
it begins to seem so shocking;<o:p></o:p>
as I look around my chamber, <o:p></o:p>

all my possessions I am hocking; <o:p></o:p>

all my friends and foes away from me are flocking;<o:p></o:p>

even I realize now, I need, to my head, <o:p></o:p>

a good knocking; <o:p></o:p>

a gentle knocking;<o:p></o:p>

To stop the havoc, the dismay, the rebellion,
the terrible scorn<o:p></o:p>
that has been brought to my life by John Barleycorn
“a drink, just one more---------NEVERMORE”<o:p></o:p>
I hear some bird say ever so clearly<o:p></o:p>

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In my soul a light begins to flicker, <o:p></o:p>

a gentle flicker<o:p></o:p>

As I start walking to my door <o:p></o:p>

ever so quicker<o:p></o:p>

My bourbon on the rocks to the floor, I start pouring
I no longer want to be a drunkard boring
As my heart begins to start a-pounding,
a gentle pounding<o:p></o:p>
A new courage I am founding <o:p></o:p>

as I grasp the doorknob, now I feel a yearning,<o:p></o:p>

I will open myself to a new learning<o:p></o:p>

the door opens and there before me <o:p></o:p>

two gentlemen so tall standing <o:p></o:p>

“Good evening, sir, I’m Dr. Bob,
we’ve come to help you once more”<o:p></o:p>
and then the other fellow looked at me so sternly <o:p></o:p>

as he shook my hand so firmly<o:p></o:p>

“we’re here to take you to AA, my name is Bill”<o:p></o:p>

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as they slipped my coat over my shoulders, and helped me down the stairs from my chamber door<o:p></o:p>

I felt determined, we can do this, I felt alone no more<o:p></o:p>

“a drink, just one more------ NEVERMORE”<o:p></o:p>

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