The Well and the Ray

Sitting there, I don’t know where,

A place that’s purest black

Lying here tied up with fear

I can’t see front or back

The darkest place, an empty space

Bereft of sound or light

The walls are steep, too high to leap

A prison far from sight

The sides are sheer, and far too near

Around me like a cell

As if I’ve been trapped tight within

A shadow watered well

A hopeless fear, resides in here,

Built into this dark place

While black despair, has found its lair

Beneath my weeping face

My cage is built with stones of guilt,

Cemented by my crimes

The walls are strong, held up with wrongs

From all my darkest times

While wild shame, too fierce to tame,

Has built the walls too high

And heavy hate has sealed my fate

To keep me where I lie

My memories, like nocturne seeds,

Grow high up from the floor

And ev’ry leaf is sharp edged grief,

That cuts me to my core

Remembered wrongs are pricking prongs,

Whose poison holds me fast

A grief-struck tree that’s grown ‘round me

Here where no light is cast

My darkest fears, my bitt’rest tears,

Surround me like an ocean

All my worst sins, trap me within

The well of my emotions

As I lie there, I now know where

I gaze into the black

When suddenly, something, I see

Is gazing softly back

A single beam, of diamond gleam,

Far sweeter than a choir

It sheds bright light upon my plight,

Like sudden kindling fire

Through darkest hate and long lost faith,

This beam cuts like a knife

Warm sunlight fare, it warms my hair,

A gleam of far off life

I know not where its golden glare,

Comes to my self-made hell

If it’s of me, or something free,

Above this shadow well

A piece of soul, still somehow whole,

A waking, bright intrusion

Impossibly, it shines on me,

A ray of absolution

The grieving fronds, my poisoned bonds,

Unwind from ‘round my hands

And raising one, I feel the sun,

From far off, better lands

I grit my teeth; I gain my feet,

The dark still holds me tight

Through all this pain, I do not wane,

As I look to the light

What's in the Dark?

What’s that between the closet crack?

Something lurking behind your back

Is there a beast beneath the bed?

Or hanging 'bove your downturned head

What’s in the dark? You’re wondering

A face? A tail? A beast? Something

But in the morning they’re all gone,

They light’s chased everything along

You open up the closet crack,

Nothing lurks behind your back

What’s in the dark? There is nothing,

No face, no tail, no beasts, no thing

The nighttime comes, as does the dark,

The dog next door desists its bark

And that must mean the things are back,

Staring through the closet crack

What’s in the dark? What did it bring?

A face? A tail? Yes there is something

Blackness, darkness everywhere,

Things are coming, intent to scare

The house is silent, yet you hear,

Sounds from the closet crack you fear.

What’s in the dark? What’s through the crack?

Spawning beasts born in the black

Your parents tell you that it’s nothing,

Your friends call you a 'baby’, laughing

But there’s something there, a fact,

Inside the dark, waiting to act

What’s in the dark? You know it’s there,

A face, a tail, the beast, its lair

The dark had scarce begun that night,

When you still have most of your sight

You tiptoe ‘cross the carpet floor,

And quickly close the closet door

What’s in the dark? You’ll never see,

No face, no tail, the beast is free

For now that the door was closed,

The monster could go where it chose

And now it fills every shadow and nook,

Disappearing wherever you look.

What’s in the dark? The monster paces,

Around the room, in the black places

Fear fills the dark where the monster flits,

Its eyes watch you with invisible slits

Then in one moment, night-black dyed,

You throw the door to the closet wide!

What’s in the dark? You’ve broke its snare,

Its face, its tail, the beast is there

It’s not hidden behind your back,

You look at it, the monster black

It fills the whole small closet space,

The shadow beast, its nightmare face

What’s in the dark? You stare right at it,

The whole of the beast inside the closet

And then it went without a sound,

Disappeared, never to be found

The beast behind the closet crack,

Was gone where it could not come back

What's in the dark? You know it now,
What's in the dark's what you allow

Jack Terror

When you know your dad’ll spank you,

‘Cuz you broke a china vase

Or when the boys in blue chase you,

‘Cuz you broke a couple laws

Do you know who is that feeling?

Tight in your throat, what’s the cause?

That’s Jack Terror, come a-calling,

When your stomach starts a-falling.

He’s there when your poker buddies,

Figure out you’ve rigged the game

And when you fall into deep water,

He’ll laugh and cry ‘Oh what a shame!’

He’s that feeling down your neck,

The goose bump man, oh what’s his name?

That’s Jack Terror come a-calling,

When your stomach starts a-falling

He’ll be there no doubt about it,

When your luck has all run out

And if you get a deadly illness,

He’ll be there to hear you shout

‘Heaven help me, oh why me?

‘What could this awful feeling be?’

That’s Jack Terror come a-calling,

When your stomach starts a-falling

Yes ol’ Jack keeps very busy,

If you run he’s on the go

But if you brave the worst of it,

I tell you now; I doubt he’ll show

And when he sees you’ve got his number,

He’ll turn tail and then you’ll know

That Jack Terror won't come a-calling,
Once you've stopped yourself from falling