Dear Addict

Dear Addict, this is a letter to you

Screaming at god and friends that turn blue

You are not invisible, at least not to me

The fringes of this world that no one can see

Muting your dreams; while cranking agony to eleven

The path to hell beginning at the gates of heaven

Dear Addict, this letter is for your mom

Clutching a rosary and reciting that psalm

I see her by the phone terrified of what’s next

The sleepless nights and that unanswered text

Watching the lines on her face deepen like ditches

Reaggravated wounds and the ripping of stitches

Dear Addict, this letter is for your son

Tears in his eyes while you’re off on your run

Staring out the window and waiting for you

Wondering what is false and what could be true

Seeing the world through eyes that are clear

Not yet filled with resentment or crippled with fear

Dear Addict, this letter is for your friend

Denying the cash you asked him to lend

Asking where you went and how far you fell

Witnessing a deal with the devil – too easy a sell

Staring at black eyes, windows that are draped

Portals to the void where your soul has escaped

Dear Addict, this letter is for your dad

Missing the lost child that he once had

Forgotten Christmases and the birth of fear

Lonely nights and the death of cheer

Remembering a child with a future of gold

Wrong turn to the auction where that future was sold

Dear Addict, this letter is for your daughter

Watching self-destruction; a lamb to the slaughter

Half-finished cigarettes masked with perfume

Fearing the demons that live in your room

You say “Tomorrow will be different” and it’s hope that your sending

But tomorrow is a re-run and she knows the ending

Dear Addict, this letter is for your dealer

Blood-stained hands, disguised as your healer

Mysterious brown powders / pockets of pressed pills

Exchanging misery for the last of your bills

Hook, line and sinker he watches you dance

The snake charmer; the witch doctor you’re under his trance

Dear Addict, this letter is for your memories

Your greatest of friends and the worst of your enemies

Written in invisible ink that is not always kind

They can be erased and edited within your own mind

It’s a sobering thought, a wound with a suture

That the past is just as uncertain as the future

Dear Addict, this letter is to me

Knowing that recovery isn’t free

It takes a lot of courage and a little bit of hope

Not as tasty as beer or as quick as dope

You will laugh a lot but you will also cry

You will have to be honest with yourself instead of lie

When god closes a door there is a window that’s open

And if the window is closed then the glass must be broken

Hope is to be felt, something that the eye cannot see

For no matter how tough a lock there is always a key

As helpless as you feel and dark the horizon

Behind a mountain to climb there is a sun that is rising

There is freedom from your pain I promise you this

A beautiful world and a lifetime of bliss

Say goodbye to what you are and dream of what could be

For the thing is, whether you know it or not – I am you and you are me