The Dark

The shadows drift slowly, deliberately, across my eyes
clouding my vision despite my cries of recognition
and despair and once again the odyssey is begun
and a harsh wind blows and mutes my cries

It has come, it is here, do I come here or does it
come for me? No matter, all my defenses fail
and I rant and rail against the dark and it
rails against me and I cry for love and familiarity

But all things known and loved fade fast into night
And the dark visions are equalled by the sounds, god,
the sounds. No hurricane from hell would have this might
No carillon pounded by the hammers of Thor

And I drift as if on a swirling sea and tempest-tossed
I land on the firm but it shrinks beneath my feet
I struggle to stand and speak and all I meet
are tumbled and tossed and all too soon lost

The beast with two backs fornicates in the rain
and cries out in ecstasy and pain for the light
but the light of heaven is far from this place
and the cries of anguish and fear pray for grace

Grace is not here nor love nor kind words spoken
and the hearts and minds of fallen souls ripped
from their being in the dirt lie broken
And all is black of various shades and chaos rules

Streams of memory flow like rivers and muddle
and puddle and stagnant grow and the stench is
vile and some who huddle and pray for the light hope
against hope for god's blessed morn and cry the while

And those of us who come here often know all is not always
as it seems but don't know how to escape these dreams
that take us from our beds and hold us captive to our fears and
the dark and terror do with us as they please

Wrenched and broken our pounding hearts drum in our ears
and the knots in our stomachs are wound tight as steel and
sweat pours in sheets and our mouths are dry for fear tears
at our very core and supplants all thoughts small and grand

The light, the light, will it never come? and then, first dim
then growing in might, is this the light? And I see her face
and I can't believe it true and she holds me and comforts me
and whispers, dear friend, it's alright, and again I escape the night

Copyright 2008, E Aceman