alcoholism is a disease
he would say
casting off all responsibility
he was the disease
infecting everyone who cared about him
or stayed too long in his orbit
he was the homeless dog
once fed he always returned
we all floated in the wreckage of his passage
jetsam, flotsam, broken pieces
thrown overboard
as he careened drunkenly
from port to port
he might suddenly surface
a U-Boat on the prowl
for another shot
at an already damaged victim
forgive, you say
to hell with that
he never earned
that benediction
The Ace Hotel Notebook 