A Joust

With shadows set to attack, I rarely sleep.

Instead, I am released, abandoned, and cast like bait on a line

into the light to serve as a knight. I fight to survive,

my senses alive, and convictions to serve as my court.

I never dream. I see only black when I fall asleep.

Kidnapped into the void, my soul dependent on actions performed,

while darkness sits upon a saddle at the edge of a box,

flashing her teeth and tapping her claws.

She pauses and waits for the switch to be flipped

and perform the duties bound to her cause.

And while in this limbo, I never rest,

stuck in a crowd to observe this contest,

a joust between darkness and light with my soul as a knight,

both set to perform a magical dance

until one tragically succumbs to the strike of a lance.

Whereupon a winner will be declared,

and a loser will be left dead in the wake;

life and death are at stake.