"Some Advice for the Newly Sober" by Greg Clasby

Though this may be the first time you’ve heard your footsteps here, the path is not a new one.

The sights and smells, the new colours, are just one you’ve never seen before

Make no mistake, every inch of progress is yours to make.

Every quagmire is yours to cross, different in its own way for you …

            …But that trap, that tar pit, that river over there …

            that crocodile.

            They’ve all be here all along to ensnare anyone

            Anyone at all.

            Your sidestep is unique.

            Your cadence all your own.

            Your stripes put each of your footfalls into a footprint of any number of those who went before.

            Your machete clears a path for those following behind you in the jungle and when they reach out, when you reach back, you’re not showing them your path, any more than those who went before showed you yours.