This is essentially my testimony in a poem. I hope you enjoy.
"A Glorious Intervention"
I cannot turn around;
I cannot look back,
Not after where I’ve been.
My feet pound the pavement
Paving a path away from all that I’ve known,
Knowing that each step takes me farther from what was once home.
I started so innocently,
Accidentally stumbling,
Fumbling down roads that just left me wondering:
What happened to peace?
What happened to home?
At the end of my stumbling, I found myself standing
In the middle of the dark forest. Alone.
At first I was terrified, staring so wide-eyed
At a deep sinister darkness, of which I was inside.
I cried out in pure terror,
Terrorized by the thought of the error which led me here.
But my cries went unheard.
My screams echoed into nothingness.
So I finally resigned to signing myself over to this new life
Or should I say… death.
Eventually I ceased seeking an escape
And instead immersed myself in the darkness,
Darkening my soul by embracing it whole-heartedly.
I became numb to emotion,
My every devotion fully given to wicked ambition.
I traded love for hate,
Peace for war,
Of this evil I only wanted more.
Warring against myself and always losing this fight
But somehow still in love with this “life.”
I rationalized wrong ‘til I thought it was right,
Adoring the darkness and despising the light,
Running from day and hiding in night.
And then things changed on the darkest of nights.
I saw a speck of light, no more than a glimmer
Shimmering in the distance but it seemed to grow thinner.
Still, I was strangely compelled and fatally attracted,
Distracted by its wonder so on impulse I acted.
I leapt from my chains and loosed all my bonds.
I chased this faint speck over rivers, through ponds.
I was irresistibly and inexplicably drawn to this mystery,
And after it I chased relentlessly wherever it wanted to lead me
So I ran and I ran, pushing myself farther
‘Til my legs turned to jelly, and my heart, it beat harder.
Farther and farther, I was losing my breath.
I was ready to collapse with my every next step.
Finally the light slowed and I made up some ground,
Unaware, unprepared for what was to be found.
At first I questioned why here the light led me,
All I saw was a hill, and on it, a tree.
Then the light led me closer, and then I could see
Something strange about this tree, this tree seemed to bleed.
Being the curious cat that I am
I walked a bit closer and stretched out my hand.
I touched just a drop, small drop of the blood
And touched to my lips,
Yes, I tasted the blood.
And instantaneously fell to my knees and eyes started to flood,
I flooded the ground with the tears of my pain.
Paining myself with the thoughts of my shame.
For when I tasted the taste my eyes opened to see
The wicked, detestable, despicable me.
For then I saw the reality of my own existence,
Existing for self at my own insistence.
But as my tears saturated the ground below my feet
I witnessed a phenomenon I’d never before seen.
The speck of light grew to a fury of flames,
Flaming and bright with a wondrous blaze.
Then like shot from a cannon the light chased the dark.
And the darkness it fled. The light beat the dark.
Now I’m delivered from my past.
I’m delivered from shame.
I’m delivered from darkness.
I’m delivered from blame.
I’m free from my guilt.
I’m free from my chains.
I’m free from my death.
The light gave me life, and now I’m changed.
I’ve lived in the darkness. I’ve felt its great pain.
I won’t ever go back. Not ever again.
The light cast out the darkness.
The victory is won.
Now I’ll live in the light.
The light of the sun.
