To Those Still Suffering

It was my job, my responsibility.
I had worked the Steps,
realized the Promises true,
even for me! And,
as the result of working the Steps,
I had a spiritual awakening.
But did I bog down there?
Did I fail to carry the message?
Certainly I knew compulsive eaters,
folks I knew needed this program
desperately. I knew them.
I knew they were killing themselves
engulfed in the hopelessness
of this awful disease. I knew them.
I knew Pete. I watched him
as diabetes devoured him,
finger by toe by foot...
by heart and lungs and body.
Did I do what I could to carry the message
to Pete? He haunts me. And won't answer
even when I go to leave flowers
on the stone.