It’s dark inside.

There is no place for light here;

   it doesn’t belong.

The light is afraid of this place.

 

There is no sound where she hides.

The silent agony pierces her soul

   like a knife longing to taste blood

And certain it never will.

 

She screams for freedom,

But softly, for no one must hear.

   No one would listen anyway.

She’s afraid of hearing herself.

 

In times of deafening solitude

She can slip free of the Darkness

   if only for a moment.

The Darkness knows she will return.

 

Her heart soars on wings of hope

She revels in Being.

   She is Alive!

      She is Free!

The Darkness smiles and waits.

 

But there is something wrong.

The mirror is broken;

   it reveals the Lie of the Truth

And opens the wounds that none can see.

 

And so she is back with the Darkness,

Wrapped in the arms of Despair.

   she has known no other lover;

She is certain she never will.

 

The Mask is firmly in place again;

No one must ever know she lives.

   she cries as the knife kisses her soul.

She is so alone.

 

        January 1, 1980