You can dress it up in poetry;
you can put lots of lipstick on it.
It’s still debauchery
any which way you call it.

Many paid a steep price for their
idealism — seeking to sizzle
— an alternative route.
Sorry, like the Fourth of July —
rocket shots, then the fizzle
and then just burned out.

The wise put their excesses on hold
and lived to tell of the story
in poetry told and passion bold —
we’re the beneficiaries of that glory.