"Where Everybody Knows Your Name"

The esprit de corps we sought in addiction,
in all-you-can-eat buffets, in bars, in casinos,
claimed to be there, masqueraded as staying there,
but lied. It was a farce, a bait-and-switch, a mockery
laughing at us from the depths of our loneliness,
the desolation that echoed through the chambers
of out-of-control lives. False fronts, pretending at cheer,
acting as jovial, hid despair. Camaraderie, the real kind,
resides elsewhere. I looked among the right people,
but too early, before they escaped, before they gave up —
before they admitted powerlessness to find strength,
to find promises worth standing on, to find recovery
where everybody knows your name, where each one cares,
where they're always glad you came.