Layers

We start with Step One.
Our lives are unmanageable.
By that we mean we're miserable,
perhaps suicidal, depressed as heck,
at the end of our rope.
We work the rest of the steps
and find it so much better,
a life we could not have imagined.
But then we read Step One.
Our lives are still unmanageable.
Oh, better than possible, but still...
There's anxiety, confusion, too many slips...
We hear in meetings of peace, of serenity
and know we're not there yet,
not as close as we could be.
We work the rest of the steps
and find it so much better,
a life we could not have imagined.
But then we read Step One.
Our lives are still unmanageable.
The character defects begin to make sense.
A program friend asks a thoughtful question
and we see how wrong we still are
in an area really close to our hearts.
We see the big picture, find peace,
realize moments or true serenity,
better lives than could have happened.
But then we read Step One.
We rejoice in knowing we have room
to reach greater levels of understanding,
of love, of identification with HP,
of recovery. We know we'll work the steps
and it will be better, but we've got a lifetime
of working the steps, never reaching the height
we know we can reach, and rejoicing in the fact
we will work the steps.