The valley of darkness,
beset with eternal depth,
sucked at my feet,
drudging slowly through the chaos of sloth,
pulling me down in the quicksand of gluttony,
sinful slime oozing warm between my toes.
Voices of burning betrayal cry from the dark,
their heat starving me of breath,
the acrid stench of the faithless
searing its way into my conscience
as I reach for the unseen light.

From the belly of Hell
I am called,
“Rest, dear sinner, let the heat bring you home.
Your reward awaits you and I will see it through!”
The heat of the voice blew me down,
my hands sinking into the burning grip of Adolf and his men.
“Heed the help of my soldiers.  The mud will divide you from the fire
and comfort your searing skin.”

Trying to free myself from the suction of the slop,
I screamed from the drought of my mouth, 
“I am in search of the Light!”
Pulling away, my hands broke loose from the soulless,
their empty eyes turned to others stirring behind me,
rising and sinking in this pit of sultry sin.

To my feet 
           I carried on.

The voice blew again, “The blind see no light.  Take refuge, for you are home.”
As I slammed to the viscous ground,
hot dung slop snaked through my mouth and nose,
his breath burning the hair from skin.
“In the light you lived, blinded by your comfort with me, 
now consent to your sanctuary.”
The ground, rooted with the hands of so many blind sinners,  
many faces looked familiar,  
souls I had once known, but not completely,
their hands pulling me down.


Spitting the slop from my mouth, I gasped for a breath of burning flesh and cried, 
“I seek the Light that once sought me!  
I beg for the Light to forgive my blindness!” 
 
The anger in the voice burned the cloth from my body, “Fool!  
The Light has perished, 
expired with your final chance before you came home to me.”

The heat, unbearable, was inescapable.  
The hands of misery pulled me deeper into the molten sloth.
Outside my exhaustion I could hear more soldiers being commandeered. 
With everything in me, I fought to my knees
and purged the murky contents of my belly and lungs.
It took everything from me.  
Collapsing, 
I fell to my back in thoughts of the Light…

From a burning bush
dropped a smoldering branch,
crashing at my side.
Hands from within the slop tried desperately to push it away.
Kicking at the dirty hands, 
I had just enough in me to set the branch between my body and the sucking sloth… 
At rest on the branch, darkness fell from everywhere,
I faded, 
        praying for the Light.

The cool softness that embraced my hand
awakened me to the sight of her silhouette, 
“You seek the Light here in the darkest of darkness.”
Her voice was familiar, fragile and comforting.
Through the smoke and flame and wailing calls from the dark
I could not make out the image of this angel before me,
“I seek only the Light.  Will you please show me?”

Though twice her size, it seemed effortless of her as
she pulled me up from atop the branch and to my feet,
“Continue on.  Seek the light with all that lies in you.  You will not be alone.”
She clothed me in a cool cotton robe and
with her soft arm around my waist she said,
“Walk with me and together we’ll pursue your decree.”

I held her close to me for there was a glow of calm comfort about her.
We made our way through the sloth,
my feet in step with hers, as the ground beneath her
solidified with the strength of forgiveness, 
melting away the hands of the soulless.


“Why am I here?” I asked the lady angel.

“Our paths have crossed.  Were you not here, I would ask the same.”
She smiled at me from the face of my mother.
At my expression of shock she continued,
“I am the angel of all who loved you.”

“Mother, you know that I love you.
You know that my life would have gone to waste without your guidance.”

“You were guided by much more than I.”
Mother said,
fading into my grandfather,
“We have always been together,
now we must get to know one another.”

“I have always longed for that,” I said crying.

And as I walked the angel continued on,
changing from face to face,
some of whom I had forever missed,
some who knew me well for only a while and 
others who I had never known nor seen, 
and they were called saints,
not solely for the living of lives in the Light, 
yet for praying for me within their dearest of hearts
when I was in life’s nadir, famished of Hope.
They were the warriors of the Light,
disallowing that evil is indefeasible.

And my mind was away with mystery
when the angel stopped.
As he turned to me I could see nothing,
“It was love that brought you to Me,
for I am the Light and 
have heeded your call.
Let the Kingdom be forever your home.”

As the light unfolded upon us
I was rushed with love and smiled,
boundless beauty came in eternal upon us and
never again
                  would I be alone.