To A Drinker The Sensation

Passivity Is Corrosive To The Soul; It Feeds On Feelings Of Integrity And Pride, And It Can Be As Tempting As A Drug.

But Then The Wine Came, One Glass And Then A Second Glass. And Somewhere During That Second Drink, The Switch Was Flipped. The Wine Gave Me A Melting Feeling, A Warm Light Sensation In My Head, And I Felt Like Safety Itself Had Arrived In That Glass, Poured Out From The Bottle And Allowed To Spill Out Between Us.

There's Something About Sober Living And Sober Thinking, About Facing Long Afternoons Without The Numbing Distraction Of Anesthesia That Disabuses You Of The Belief In The Externals, Shows You That Strength And Hope Come Not From Circumstances Or The Acquisition Of Things, But From The Simple Accumulation Of Active Experience, From Gritting The Teeth And Checking The Items Off The List, One By One, Even If It's Painful And You're Afraid.

Me, I Walk Along And Feel Quietly Defensive, A Recluse In The Land Of We. That's Quite The Loaded Word, 'we.

For Years, I Ate The Same Foods Every Day, In Exactly The Same Manner, At Exactly The Same Times.