At Dawn

Be not tormented —

you weren’t, after all,

any darker than the whole canvas,

any darker than the dark on dark

of stories about darkness

and rumors of a thing called light

sometimes dreamed, more felt than seen

And in that darkness,

no one prescription

is any better than any other,

however much prevailing topics

are wrongs of others, wrong on wrong

At dawn, it is revealed

none of these paths

are inaccessible to light,

none of those torments

have any staying power

They will lift

effortlessly as shadows,

we all will bask together in the sun.

©Wendy Mulhern

August 29, 2018