Confronting the lurking fear,
the heart quickens,
muscles tense.
The dark corner,
never before approached,
but growing
only darker.
Born pristine,
white light suffused
an open space.
No corner,
no crease,
no imperfection,
for a crumb of corruption
to take hold.
And then,
the first time
reality is shattered,
creates a fracture
and a hidden space
to drive the fear.
Life goes on
and some have many days
with many fractures.
Their reality,
a broken down façade.
Inside, a labyrinth
of dark corners,
each holding
a memory
of an atrocity.
Their heart and mind
a convoluted
spider’s web
of fear and terror.
Holding a light
in the hand.
One step,
and then another.
Bravery drives those
who can enter
and illuminate
the dark and foul corners.
Chasing memories out.
They cry as they depart.
The stained visage of reality,
still shattered,
but less haunted.
Clearing out the rubble
left after destruction
is not easy,
and made only harder
by what lurks
in those dark corners.
It will never be
that clean, wide open place.
No,
not in this life,
but there is
a wonderful beauty
in how the light
shines
and is magnified
from within
a shattered life
reclaimed.
HG – 2021
