Leviathan

You can write about
Joy
Terror or Fear
Anger or Hate

I don’t find it hard at least
There can be something noble
In all of these

Who hasn’t feared the dark
And striven against it?

Who hasn’t hated evil
And sworn to stand against it?

Joy
Is what happens
When for a time those things recede
And we glimpse the upper spheres
What we were meant for

These I can touch
Plumb
Meld into verse
Understanding something of their place
In the grand design

For me
The black core
The place with no exit
Leviathan
Is Shame

It has swelled up in me at times
And cut me off from all my strength
From art
From love
From the soul
From myself

If I can grasp something of it
And place it alongside all the rest
Then perhaps the devil’s trick can fade
And the songs of the great story
Will unfurl in the stars