That Long, Dark Night

Once upon a midnight clear

The April moon ablaze with light

A father's song of sorrow and woe

Piercing the veil of that long, dark night

*

Tossing and turning in the dewy grass

The spark extinguished from my soul

Thinking on the mistakes of the past

How could I have not known?

*

The truth can be so hard to swallow

When fully brought to light

It shrieks and strains, attacks and stains

Bringing us deeper into that long, dark night

*

A Father's work is a precious and a weighty thing

Which no other man will understand

The responsibility being so great

A delicate flower in the palm of your hand

*

A family torn about by guilt

Mistrust and love misplaced

In a moment, my precious fatherly hopes

Vaporized to dust - disappearing without a trace

*

How hard it is to raise a child

Into a woman grown

Assuring yourself all the while

Your fears are overblown

*

What dreams we have that life may bring

That we hold deep in our core

But despite these shadows in our head

Life oft has other plans in store

*

A tale of star-crossed love gone wrong

The innocence of childhood lost from sight

Like that of Romeo and his fair maid

a sordid, sad, and desperate plight

*

Blue eyes transformed into vacant pools

As black as the ink in the poet's pen

The mischievous twinkle I held so dear

Of which I thought I'd never see again

*

A carpet stained by fearful anger and rage

A cutting look that slices to the bone

A wall scattered and splayed with the remnants of a heart betrayed

Turned into powder by love's grinding stone

*

Unkind words that can't be unsaid or forgotten

Bitter tears that were endlessly wept

A magnificent future tossed aside like refuse

Reminders of promises that could not be kept

*

Oh how could I have missed the signs

(If I have but one regret in this earthly life)

That exploded with the force of an atom bomb

Shattering the peace of that long, dark night

*

And yet this pain was the impetus sought

For to awaken and be brought to light

To see the truth buried deep within

And rescue our souls from that long, dark night

--------------------

Two years ago, my then 16-year-old daughter suffered a psychological breakdown as a result of trauma that I was completely unaware of.

It was the longest night of my life.

In my love for her, and fear for her safety, I made the hardest decision of my life, to place her in a mental health facility, in the hopes it would help her to find peace.

I struggle to this day with the thought of whether or not it was the right decision.

We are still working on repairing our fractured relationship. But she is doing much better. She is living on her own now, and I have the highest hopes for her future!

It is said that we must experience the "dark night of the soul" before we can awaken. What this painful experience did for me was to rouse the awakening process in me.

Eckhart Tolle says that once started, the awakening process can not be stopped. It can only be paused. It can go dormant, but it can not be ended. Mine had been dormant for some 10 years. And I am grateful to this brutal experience for stirring it back to life.

What has helped me make peace too, is that I now see that her beautiful soul made an enormous sacrifice for my benefit. Through her pain, I was finally able to see joy. I was able to see the Truth. This is why we are here. Our purpose, our only purpose, is to awaken and to help others awaken. It is the point of all our pain and suffering.

It is the point of existence.

Hello dear friend, I'm Aaron! I write inspirational poems and stories of spiritual growth and personal development. I invite you to be a part of my journey of self-discovery and search for truth.

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Have a wonderful, blessed day!

Love,

Aaron

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