Dark

I am not afraid
of the dark.
The most intimate
of pains have
tortured my
mind,
have been in the murky
corners where
no winged creature
would ever stoop
to go. There was no
rescue attempt.
No intervention,
for my soul.
Just the slow and
sure adjustment.
Branded and left behind,
and the
sound of my own voice
whispering ‘Mercy’
but getting none.
A hardening
of the nerves,
and the abandonment of
the will to stand up again,
and again,
and again and again,
ultimately became
the very thing that
saved me.