- Sophia Marie George
Only One Sober
Updated: Jan 10

"Only One Sober"
It’s the worst when you’re at a party,
The only one who knows what’s going on
No drinks in your hand,
You feel like going for a walk on the sand
You become annoyed with all those there,
Every interaction absent of meaningful stare
Feels like the only way to have real fun
Would be to kiss someone very drunk,
The epitome of a total disregard for love
You always thought you’d be into the guy who doesn’t do this sort of stuff,
But you find yourself pining after one who has had more than enough
Knowing later the next day he’ll probably forget you were even here
Or, worse, grow tired with your boring, sober self near
Your friends seem to all have gone as well,
Enjoying themselves in some kind of alcoholic heaven while you’re stuck in real-life hell
Seeing these girls start to sway and fall,
You become disillusioned with it all
And seeing no purpose in staying,
Without going over the hostess and saying,
“Thank you for this wonderful time,”
You head out to the beach on a straight, somberly sober line
And you, on the sand, so cold
Think about dying and growing old
Pull out your phone
And record your emotions on “Voice Memos”
So that no one else can hear you,
So that no one else can disturb,
This small, sober place you’ve formulated into your very own little world.
What fun they must be having there
While you’re on the tip of the ocean, kicking off your shoes to strip your feet bare
And, finally, seeing no purpose,
You imagine yourself walking out without being nervous
And into the deep ocean you’ll go,
Guided by the moon’s dim glow,
You’ll finally bring yourself under,
In your own soft, calm, and quiet thunder
Knowing that no one can hear you or that no one even cares,
You can’t do anything but stop and stare
At the bottom of the ocean until you finally and endlessly just lay there.
...
But you don’t actually do that, of course
Dying would only make things infinitely worse
Instead, you allow yourself to cry
But then collect yourself after some time
You put back on your shoes,
And you walk back to the strand
You pull up some pump-up music, possibly even a boy band
You return to the party,
To finally say your respective goodbyes,
And when everyone is starting to leave,
Your friend grabs you to tell you that she wants something to eat
You’ll have an appetizer and then dessert
And the other guys at the table next to yours will try to flirt
She’ll describe her boredom at the party and all her plight,
Letting you know that this moment is the highlight of her night
You finally walk her home
As you sing and dance on the street
And when the time comes to say goodbye,
You get an uber
So that you can get a goodnight’s sleep.