Alcoholics Anonymous the Drunkard's Twenty-Third Psalm

I was cleaning out a closet of mine, when I ran across an old book from the sixties called God's Super Salesman. This book is about a gentleman named Bob Harrington, who was a street evangelist. Mr. Harrington traveled the streets of his neighborhood sharing the Gospel of Christ with anyone who would listen.

I had been cleaning a while, so I decided to sit down and flip through the pages of this book. In the middle of this book, there was a poem called The Drunkard's Twenty-Third Psalm. I read the poem and for some reason began to laugh a little because I thought the poem was rather hilarious. I then called my mother, my aunt, and some other friends to read the poem to them. They also thought the poem was funny.

After reading and sharing this poem with everyone I could think of, I placed the book back into the closet and continued with my chores, but the poem stayed on my mind. I began to wonder why I just could not stop thinking about this poem. The answer came to me as clear as day.

This poem was describing different seasons of my life, and the people I shared my life with during those difficult times. Although, I was crying tears of laughter on the outside, I was crying tears of pain and sadness on the inside.

Here is the poem, now I will share it with you. This poem is in no way meant to dis-respect Gods word. My hope is that it will show many people the hopelessness, pain, and suffering that alcoholism causes.

This is no longer my story. Wait did I say that, actually, this will always be my story. I am sharing this poem as an adult child of an alcoholic who wants to help others realize the seriousness of this disease and how it affects not just the alcoholic, but everyone who loves them. God Bless!

The Drunkard's Twenty-Third Psalm:

King Alcohol is my shepherd: I shall always want.

He maketh me to lie down in the gutters

He leadeth me beside troubled waters,

He destroyeth my soul,

He leadeth me into the paths of wickedness for the effects sake,

Yea, though I walk through the valley of poverty and have delirium tremors,

I will cling to drink.

For thou art with me, thy bite and thy sting they torment me.

Thou preparest an empty table in the presence of my family,

Thou head anointest my head with hellishness,

My cup of wrath runneth over.

Surely, destruction and misery shall follow me all of my life,

And I shall dwell in the house of the damned forever!

This poem is not meant to judge anyone, I just ran across it in an old book of mine and it brought back a time in my life when I went through some hard times. I hope sharing it will open the eyes of anyone who has a problem with alcohol or drugs.

I have provided some websites that I hope you will find helpful.

www.aaonline.net

www.aa.org

www.adultchildren.org

SOURCE: God's Super Salesman, by Bob Harrington