I FOUND THE POWER (I CALL HIM GOD)

I am not proud of my drunken life,
The trouble I cause my kids and wife.

For years my life was full of sin,
Always some trouble I was in.

For though I looked, no peace I found,
My life became a merry-go-round.

For I looked for help in a bottle of booze,
But I only found the way to loose.

With a bottle of wine in some cheap dive,
I couldn't live, I could just survive.

I was mentally sick, and physically too,
And spiritually dead, I knew was true.

I tried, and tried to be a man,
But the bottle was all I could understand.

I broke my word, I would even steal,
I lied to friends, I was just a heel.

And then one day I met a man,
That helped me up so I could stand.

And as I stumbled through the bar,
He said "That's not the man you really are".

If you want help, there is a way,
You just keep sober, day by day.

I know, because I was like you,
I was sick and you are too.

God helps the man that really tries,
But you will have to stop your lies.

Be true to Him and He'll help you,
For only God can see you through.

I looked at God through this man's eyes,
And learned He cared, to my surprise.

I thank God daily for His grace,
And the man that saw through my disgrace.

It will take my life to make amends,
For the trouble I caused to all my friends.

I can never repay the debt, that's true,
But I'll do my best from here on through.

Yesterday is gone, That day has passed,
To-day I know God holds me fast.

Tomorrow is still that unborn day,
I may not live to pass that way.

But if tomorrow is for me,
I pray I'll help to set men free.

So if God grants that I should stay,
I'LL try to always point the way.

So other men can look above,
And know the peace of God's true love.

My life is new, my heart is free,
Because I know God cares for me.

I'll lift someone along the way,
God will smile on Judgment Day.

Then I can lift my head with pride,
Because the drunk I was, has finally died.

                                                                               

AUTHOR: Margaret Shankland
Marvin asked me to write a poem for him
to read at an AA meeting. He gave me the idea
and I wrote this for him.