Almost Gone

I sank beneath the weight, day after day,
In smoke-choked rooms where the world slipped away.
Pills on the table, paraphernalia in sight,
Chasing a numb that never felt right.
They packed me off to rehab, eyes cold and grim,
Where they preached about God like He’d fix me from within.
But all I found there were cracks in the wall,
Another place to break, another place to fall.

“Tough love,” they said, but the love was a lie,
Just the tough part, “figure it out or die.”
No hand to hold, no warmth to find,
Just eyes full of shame, hearts closed and blind.
I begged my loved ones through gasping breath,
But they said, “We can’t,” as I drifted near death.
No calls, no visits, no messages sent,
Just silence, and me, too broken to vent.

I counted the seconds at the edge of it all,
A heartbeat away from making the call.
I thought, This is it and no one will care,
No lifeline, no love, just thin empty air.
The world had moved on, and I’d been left behind,
A burden and a ghost in everyone’s mind.

But then the phone rang, right out of the blue.
Then a friend’s voice broke through the shadows I knew.
“Hey, man, you crossed my mind today.”
Like a flare in the dark, chasing fear away.
We talked, and that talk kept me here,
Pulled me from the grip of the end I held near.

It wasn’t some program or lesson from above,
It was a friend who just gave me some love.
No judgment, no sermons, no demand to be tough,
Just someone who saw that enough was enough.

So I decided to stay, one breath at a time,
Walking out of the pit, though it felt like a climb.
And maybe that friend saved more than they know,
Sometimes all we need is a reason not to go.