The Dark

Every night I lit a candle,

warding off the dark.

I wondered what was going on,

in the blackness standing stark.

One night I let the candle die

and the dark encompassed all;

I was greeted by the Lord of Night

he was fearsome, dark and tall.

I asked him a question,

of what was important then,

I asked if was the King of Death,

here to meet me at me end.

He chuckled softly to himself,

a dark and chilling rasp

looking down from beneath his cowl

I saw hands slowly clasp.

“I am not Death, nor retribution,

nor punishment for your sinning.

I am the King of Night and Darkness,

I am the start of the beginning.”

With that I understood it all

and the darkness receded.

The spectral form of blackness gone,

its work there now completed.

HG – 1995-2000