I Am Not Afraid

You say you do not believe.

That is a lie.

 

You pick up clawed hands

and bloodshot eyes,

planting those things

in your fertile brain.

Because all you have is

yourself.

And your soul’s tendons

are too weak to crush

the darkness.

 

I am no different than you.

I cannot close my eyes

quickly enough to escape

the shapes waiting

to drown me.

 

But I have more than myself.

That is why my steps are steady.

That is the reason

that jagged night

becomes velvet.

The Spirit within me

makes those other spirits beg,

“Have mercy.”

 

If the ghosts are gone,

then what of men?

What of those that

truly can use piercing edges

and flying circles?

 

I do not deny the reality

of real-life monsters,

who have grown out of humans.

To them I say,

use your weapons,

your bombs,

your words.

Those will only

bring me back

to my Protector.

 

Today, I will live

with light in my irises,

For I do not face you

alone.