As night came,
cast its silken threads
of twilight about,
I saw a hill.
Ahead of me, it loomed
barren save for one tree.

Its mocking shadow crossed me;
engulfed me; tool my breath.
My soul,
my very identity,
was ripped from my grasp.
It left my spirit naked,
for all the world to see;
uncovered;
exposed.

I was left, abandoned;
say it how you will,
the meaning's still the same.
Nobody came,
rose a helping hand
or even helped me to stand.
~
I stood all night
in the darkness.
Ensnared; awed
by the twisting depths of shadow.
I tried to pull my eyes away,
but the black gaze upon me
trapped my there;
tortured my mind, my soul;
tried to poison my heart
in its razor claws.

It raked me 'til I bled in pain
and wanting to get away.
I felt its ebony tendrils
creep around my heart,
as I feebly tried
to push them apart.
~
All night this went on;
no one stopping
or coming to help.
No one in the shadows
that squeezed my lungs;
my heart;
everything that made me me
was ravaged.

I drew back
from humanity's hopeless entanglement.
I felt no hope.
No one would come to my aid
when I needed it most.
No one would care
if I silently faded away.
~
Then, as the dawn comes charging in
to rend the night in two,
you appeared in a blinding of light,
that seized my eyes.
You lifted my burden,
took my spite;
you healed my wounds
and kissed my scars,
with a blanket of life
that made them
beautiful.
You saved me;
My soul, life, spirit, heart;
My identity was saved.

So I—in an isolated barrier
that crumbled
in the strength
of you love—
crept back into
the warmth of the sun;
devoured the fresh air;
cried at the beauty of
life itself.

You saved me from
anything and everything
that would have destroyed me.
You saved me from myself.
All of my
loneliness.