Hymn Of An Addict

David Dunn writes "Hymn of an Addict" from the first fragile morning of sobriety. "Woke up feeling I might survive," he sings, hoping to make it "at least for today." With no substance left to numb the pain, simply having "the blood in my veins" feels like enough, and he admits he cannot explain it.

The refrain is deliberately hedged: "I think I found Jesus, or something like Jesus." That uncertainty is the point. Freedom is "breathing its way in my soul," yet he calls it "too soon to tell," and the second verse remembers waking "on the pavement at the bottom of hell" and failing to recognize his own reflection.

Later he says he will "take what I'm given, if it's only a taste," asking for one moment released from the chains. The song makes no claim of a finished recovery, only the early sense of being pulled up, close to the psalmist's picture of being lifted from the pit and having bonds broken.