Fear beats

like the wings

of a rabid bat

in a lonely cave.

I am in that cave,

so deep i can’t see the sun;

there’s just a beating of wings

and loneliness and no fun.

I hear distant voices

calling out to me

and I want to call back

but it’s only me I can see.

The cold, dripping stalagtites

whisper of stillness and a kind of death;

if I stay here too long,

there’ll be nothing, not even breath.

This is the waiting place,

between light and dark;

one sad hallway in nature;

anything but a forested park.

It’s time to take action

and find my way back to the voices;

for therein lay life and those i love;

and evergreen hearts full of choices.