A Battle



Every once a while a piece of paper falls out from a book and remind me of the journey I’ve been taking. Here is a poem I wrote in 1996 about a stage in that journey.

Fear calls me to return
Its voice is reasonable, laden with facts
Holding a part of truth
It states with bold familiarity
What’s been left behind is here
Fear promised its return
The bright thought darts in and out
I scamper within
It holds me safe then forms a shield around me
Fear stands outside assuming its well known shapes
Its arms are warm it pleads to me
I know those arms well
In the beginning they were soft
In the beginning they seem to protect
But they strangle, they make me tremble
I stand inside the lighted shield of brightness and beckon
Fear stiffens; it wants me to come outside
I and my light are solid
Fear is but a shadow
Resolution has joined me in the light
It gently reminds me of myself.

I grow strong and watch as fear begins to crumble, turning ugly
Threatening my safety, helpless to change
Come - it is not longer a plea
Fear must obey its master’s voice
Come – it shifts, it knows
Once in the light it cannot be
Come; I say with bold and joy
Fear comes it has no choice
It brushes the light and trembles
With peace and love I draw fear in
It is belting, losing its shape
Its form not as solid as I’d believed
The dissolution leaves nothing
Thoughts are things to be reshaped
And fear was just a thought
Its life it would sustain from my own
In love’s bright presence fear is gone
I am, and fear is not.

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