The Hope Light – A Poem

* I wrote this for Cait because she is awesomeness personified.

 

She descended the spiral staircase

that was within her mind.

Gradually, as she

went

down

each

step,

the light became filled with shadows

and the air became cold.

At the bottom of the staircase,

her feet touched a dirt floor.

She could smell growth and decay.

Taking a step,

she looked around her

and saw only the darkness of trees.

They stretched so high up

that she could not see their branches.

She could hear them whispering.

As she walked on,

the shadows became darker

and filled with smoke.

She could hear the tree branches whisper.

As they spoke,

the words sent shivers along her skin:

“There will be no one else to love you.”

“Don’t you realise that you are alone already?”

“Who would ever love a freak like you?”

“All anyone sees when they look at you is your disability.”

“How could someone love a broken person?”

She covers her ears

and looks up into the sky,

trying to see the tree tops,

hoping to see some kind of salvation

from above.

She stands in the dark forest,

her body quaking with

need

shame

despair

fear

hope.

It is the last emotion that stops the quaking

of her body and starts the shaking of the trees.

The dark forest begins to undulate,

as the light within her

begins to grow.

She holds out her right hand

and a small flame appears,

flickering like a candle,

in the centre of her palm.

She knew that the voices of the dark forest were wrong,

that she deserved love,

she was worthy of love,

that she was not broken,

that she was more than her disability.

As she begins to walk

back the way she came,

her light of hope shows her

what the shadows really are.

They are smoke and whispers,

the playthings of the dark,

nothing more,

only nightmare shapes

that infiltrate her thoughts.

As she ascends the stairs,

the brightness in her palm,

grows stronger and more brilliant.

When she reaches the top of the staircase,

the dark forest of her mind kept at bay for now,

the hope light

begins to hum.

She brings the flame to her ear

and listens to what

it has to say.