You feel good, yesterday a gem of service
instead of a face-down rumble into rum
and the glass,
All is possible looking down at a schedule
for one day, with God at the top, sleep
at the bottom,
Recovery the dream of getting back what
you never really had, so hallelujah!! It’s
back to youth,
the dream of all that could be and the action
to “move the chains” toward it, as footballers
might try to say,
In love with life, just for today.
***
You feel good, no more running away,
acceptance the key before changing
what we do and what we say.
But before all that, truth must shine,
we must admit our faults to God,
ourselves and another human being
this is a basic AA thing, 12 steps
to freedom and growth, to
God only knows—sunshine and rain
producing a golden rainbow to block
out and record the pain. Write a book,
or just plan this day, God laughing with you
as we climb the trail toward the
Great Mother’s sinewy sinew, a waterfall
worth a thousand pictures, a stream
trying to win back Los Angeles and
become her river once more.
Concrete from rock, we break down
our modern thoughts. We seek
a Native voice, but must study and go
back to see the facts for proper choice.
God be with us, to turn our good
into better, to rise in our sobriety
to remember the native and slave
in chains. To make amends for the
pain that stains, the rain that reigns,
the peace that shames because it
was not justice for all but for only
the white, privileged kings. God
grant us more than shiny new things,
but the wisdom to see what the
Chiefs saw and were: the Gold of the
land in its true love. Gratitude.
The lost art of standing. Sitting. Laying
down in the midst of greatness when
the buffalo spirit returns, dirt to the shirt,
Take off our ties, go back to England
and tell the Crown at Last!!!!
“We found the gold, Ma’am. Yes,
it was the native people. Their wisdom.
Their love of land and connection to it.”
Sound the pipes, rattle the skins,
scrape the strings, the Celtic song
revives to the native revival, a sign
from all the gods that to call yourself
a child of God, be grateful for what you
have, forgive the wrongs done you,
help another find shelter, if you are
blessed to have it, and join the alcoholic
as he or she marches backwards to
right the wrongs never more wrong
than now…
It feels good.
Bill Watkins, Traveling Poet 