Addiction Poem by connie crane

I put my fingers on your pulse,
I do not just feel the blood coursing through your veins.
I feel the unrest, the conflict, the uncertainty.
I see the parts of you, you love,
The parts of you, you hate.
I see you trying to resolve the conflict,
Choose the higher part of you that transcends the limitations,
That hold you back, that hold you down,
That keep you from being all you could become.
I see you try and I see you falter,
I hear you cry and I see you fall,
Fall so hard you wonder if you should even try……
Or if everyone else is tired of hearing you cry….
Beloved, I see you because you are a reflection of me.
You feel alone inside of you with all this disquiet.
Like me you try cope, with any addiction that is acceptable, or maybe one that is not.
I see you and I do not blame……
I understand that we are the same.
It does not feel like you are trying to kill yourself.
It feels as though it is killing you,
When you let yourself acknowledge it at all.
Better to have died at the hand of another,
Than to have put the knife to your own throat.
But you cannot kill the parts of you, you hate without killing the part of you that is able to love.
Could you put your hand in mine?
I can see you and I do not blame…….
I understand that we are the same.
Running away or staying to fight,
Either way we are hiding from ourselves.
I see you…whether you realize it or not,
And I can love all of you,
Because I am learning to love all of me.
The good, the bad, and the ugly!
Beloved, when you are ready to stop running or fighting,
Take my hand,
And we will stand,
Together, on the edge of glory!