I’m glad I got here

because where I come from
was no place to be.

I had buddies there,

not really friends

but co-addicts for rapport,

for sharing the guilt,
for practicing the coping.

One especially, but she says no,
she won’t come over here

to sanity, to freedom.

I’m gonna miss her.

My wish is that I might live

so she can see hope

in my life, hope she needs,
that she might feel the fire,
that of the destructive blaze I’ve left
but of the sacred flames I’ve found.

I can’t fix her, can’t mend me.

All I can say is

Jesus, take the wheel.