Out of the Drink

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What else is there to say, except I wish this escape for anyone who suffers from alcoholism or another addiction. I hope that it happens for them sooner rather than later-that they'll choose the path of life, instead of death.

In Ray's final poem, 'Late Fragment,' we can experience the condition of his heart, his acceptance of himself as someone who has met his demons eye to eye and vanquished them-with the help of others, and by grace. He's left his writing to show others the way. His poems and stories, in their fearless clarity, say just how it is to nearly die, then in a moment turn back toward life. Ray was fond of quoting the poet Rainer Maria Rilke's mandate: 'You must change your life.'

Late Fragment

And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.

Tess Gallagher is a writer and poet, and the widow of the author Raymond Carver. Reprinted from the Sun (Dec. 2006). Subscriptions: $36/yr. (12 issues) from Box 469061, Escondido, CA 92046; www.thesunmagazine.org. The poems are reprinted from All of Us: The Collected Poems, by Raymond Carver. (c) by Tess Gallagher. They appear here by permission of Knopf Publishing Group and Tess Gallagher.

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