This poem has also been added to the Recovery Poem section of the website.
Those who will not slip beneath
the still surface on the well of grief,
turning down through its black water
to the place we cannot breathe,
will never know the source from which we drink,
the secret water, cold and clear,
nor find in the darkness glimmering,
the small round coins,
thrown by those who wished for something else.
Note – This poem points us to the title of a classic book about Twelve Step Spirituality , Breathing Under Water, by Richard Rohr. He took his title from another poem about overwhelm and surrender by Carol Bialock, the last lines of which read,
I knew, then, there was neither flight nor death nor drowning.
That when the sea comes calling you stop being good neighbors.
Well-acquainted, friendly-from-a-distance neighbors.
And you give your house for a coral castle, and you learn to breathe underwater.
Anne Lamott who wrote the foreword to Rohr’s book references the Four Paradoxes that perhaps illustrate how our alcoholism can teach us how to breath underwater …
We suffer to get well.
We surrender to win.
We die to live.
We give it away to keep it.
U can find more about the Four Paradoxes here
And here are some more articles from David Whyte and Richard Rohr
David Whyte
Feeling Stuck; Try Surrender & Withdrawal
Rigorous Honesty & Vulnerability In Accepting Life As It Is
The Truth In Our Vulnerability
Richard Rohr
Stinking Thinking: The Universal Addiction
Powerlessness; We Learn By Doing It Wrong
Finding Our Way Home As We Accept Our Brokenness