Night's Darkest Hour

Dark, quiet, air so cold
Evening hour growing old
Zephyr's breath howl and moan
Here I sit, all alone
Distant stars gazing down
Form my melancholy crown
In the midst of blackest night
Desolate, desperate - a ghastly sight!
Winter's chill does kiss my skin
Frosts my soul from within
Midnight hour seems so bleak
When the heart still does seek

Ghosts

A fear beyond
All possibility of comfort.
A monster devouring with
A thousand salivating mouths;
Trampling, kicking with
A thousand, cloven hooves.
Ghosts' shrieks invade -
Haunt our souls -
Dramatically persistent like
Roadside beggars -
Dirty, unkempt, angry,
Loud... fatal.
Monsters, my dear, are real.
Ghosts are quite real too.
Living inside us -
Cold, ominous, starving;
Possessing our spirits with
Bloodied eyes and
Desperation so thick, so cloying -
Permeating like grandma's Chantily,
Coating your lips... nose... tongue...
Until you cannot breathe.

Metamorphosis

Cocooned.
Grief walled around you,
Wrapping you in silken strands of
Despair, depression, and doubt.
You wear this shell,
Not knowing how to go on
With such a hole left in your life.

Time passes and
You begin to shift,
To stretch within your bleakness
You test the integrity of
This grey prison
Looking for just one weak thread -
The thread that will save you.

A crack emerges,
Allowing light to peek through -
To illuminate the corners of
Your heart, mind, and soul.
A softness falls upon your face,
Warming emotions long since
Grown hollow, cold.

A hole is broken open and
You blink, hesitantly.
This world is not
The one you'd left,
This world is full of light.
This world is full of peace.
This world is full of love and compassion.

You break out of this hardened shell,
Stretching like a new born deer;
Your grief replaced with reminiscing;
Your despair replaced with hope;
Your depression lifted on
The wings of cherubs,
Clearing your doubts.

Spreading newly grown wings,
Your heart soars with memories -
Old and new; good and bad -
Taking to the great heights
You've always been destined to reach,
Supported by those who have
Come before.

You emerge, no longer the same.
Wiser, older, stronger, positive,
You are more prepared to
Continue down your life's path,
Never forgetting how you got here
But richer for the journey
Butterfly.