Contrast

Had I never stepped out of my cave,

I might have lived out my days in the dark

Never knowing that warmth and light existed

Beyond those cold and narrow walls,

I would have normalized the aching

Convinced it was the product of a fatal flaw

For which loneliness was my punishment

Penitence for the wayward soul.

It was intuition that awakened me,

Opened my eyes to steady deterioration

Leading me softly through a maze of stone

Until I finally discovered a safe escape

Leaving the heaviness of the cave behind

Into the welcoming embrace of a rising dawn

With a breeze at my back and hope far ahead

Led out of the dark by the contrast of light.