Journey Scarce Begun: The Soul's

Dark Night Revisited

How easily the denizens of doubt

Gain entry to the all-receptive brain

Or when the body weakened or worn out

Acquiesces sullenly in pain

Suddenly we cannot recognize

The entity that slyly casts its spell;

Our soul's resistance gone, the light denies,

This foul and frequent visitor from hell.

Thoughts too dark, words too vile to speak

Come rushing past our lips; amazed

We hear a voice that is our own and wreak

Self-destruction in tortured moments crazed,

Ranting at this parody of God

That dreams of heaven with feet encased in mire

A being divine yet lower than the clod

Half-animal who burns with inner fire.

We must pass through although the channel narrows

And sudden rocks appear beneath our keel,

Or from time's shore there fly grief's tainted arrows,

But darkness intervenes and night we feel

As a protecting veil or dark embrace.

Perhaps in morning when the constant sun

Reclaims the earth we shall gain strength to face

The perils of the journey scarce begun.