The Climb

A poem about loss, rejection, and recovery.

I am reaching for the golden light.
My fingers brush hope and love,
but I fall as every time before
in a rain of broken glass.

I see darkness flying past,
I feel the deadly hopeless chill below
If I fall all the way this time,
I won’t have strength to climb again.

My only hope was in the light,
far above now, and growing farther.
and my only chance to joy is fading fast.
I never knew these things before,
but the pain cleansed my soul
as I climbed to joy before.

I stare now into the void
with tears of blood on my cheeks
My fall is fast and reckless,
but now it slows beneath me again,
and I am caught, but not in darkness.

The light still warms my cheeks.
The warmth can dry my tears.
Pain of memories can cut, I know,
but hope can balm all wounds.

I see I am again were I once climbed
and with the brightness again my goal,
my new strength again carries me high.
Now the darkness, not the light,
is fading.