Fully Alive

The twelfth step invites us to continue the journey one day at a time for the rest of our lives. We need to keep moving forward in recovery, keep developing our spiritual consciousness, if we are to remain spiritually awake and fully alive. (The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Kindle Locations 1153-1155)

Fully alive. Funny this should be the draft
I would have worked from last night.
Instead of writing poetry I was recovering
from surgery, morphine dripping to ward off life.
Or at least pain, agony. But alive I am, in spades.
My first ambulance ride, my first real crisis
living alone, an awareness I was counseled
Monday to meditate more. And now,
hours past the morphine I find myself aware,
alive, ready to crash through metaphysical doors
and leave the physical ones alone. And grateful
for good neighbors, kind friends, and skilled
caregivers.

A Cloud of Witnesses