Danielle (daughter)

The children of darkness
have their moments as well,
glorious testimonies and self-made fantasies,
delightful, intoxicating delusions,
breath-taking beams of false light,
rising to incomprehensible heights;

perhaps this is what
I understand best.

I have never been able
to survive in either world;
just somewhere in-between,
out on the fringe,
slightly past the known,
standing on the edge,
where even shadows
remain silent.

I should have reached out for you,
I should have protected you,
I should have pulled you from
the gathering storm,
I should have been stronger
than this miserable mix
of flesh and bones,
I should have been willing
to fight for you,
die for you;

now it is too late,
now you are gone;

lost forever.

Baby,
you’ll never know
how I grieved for you,
how I loved you like a daughter,
how I loved you as a woman,
how you made me smile
on the inside;

how I will always miss you.
.
.