The Dark Takes Flight

When did my heart first wander into night?

A hapless scholar taught by phantom flame,

whose borrowed stars betrayed with borrowed light,

and left the sky more hollow than it came.

The velvet shroud of false love’s moonless guise,

that blinds the eye and deafens reason’s tone,

could turn a shade to saint before my eyes,

yet left me weeping, lost, and all alone.

But one swift dawn tore through the midnight seam,

and one bright smile eclipsed the night's embrace;

my soul, once prisoner to a fevered dream,

reborn in dawn’s pure light and gentle grace.

With dawning love so ended dark despair,

For she, in love, is light beyond compare.