FINE WHINES

I need to be aware of my relapse warning signs

So I’ve made a list of some very fine whines

Theses whines are not imported, I’ve fermented them myself

Step Ten needs a revisit if I pull one off the shelf

The first one is this “I don’t feel like going to A.A.”

If recovery’s mine to keep, in this fellowship I must stay

“I am just too tired” is a favorite I have said

But I need remember, faith without works is dead

I’ve been known to say, “I cannot stand the pain”

With lack of faith and courage I’ll hit the bottle once again

Then there is the lie “I will only drink a little”

Where this will take an alcoholic certainly is no riddle

“What you have to say to me, I don’t want to hear”

And this, the truth about myself is probably what I fear

Sometimes my justifying says that “Everybody else does”

But am I like normal earthlings?  Not now, nor ever was

“No, not now, I’ll do it later” I’ve been known to say

Why put off ’til tomorrow what I can do today

Then there’s “It’s not fair”, I’ve said this in the past

Fair is not the course of life, but a weather forecast

Of course the most classic of all the whines that I can think

“Poor me, poor me, pour me another drink”

So when I’m in the cellar picking out a favorite whine

I ask “Am I a jellyfish?  No, I have a spine”

Brett Martin Smith © 1995