In The Wilderness

But how could I conceive
the last step would be easy?
One world has to fall away,
light darken in the eyes before
the birth of a new one lights
and rises.  Such birth is pain,
is loss in excruciating gain -
the soul scourged in admonition of
all its farthest soils - it goes
way back that schism, carries
with it all derision and all zeal,
the Holy Place unconcealed but
invisible and outwith the feet's
ability to step.  I am pushed
back onto territory new, the steps
withdrawn, the space I stand upon
a strange turf and wide.  The
gate is gone, its promise left
me void and seeking in a
land I never knew was here.
This is pure fear.
The self divided from
the self - the
Devil at one's ear.

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