3 days and nights
The darkness did Ascend
From its pit of the unholy
Claiming

Each day was as a nightmare
Where doubts did cast their way
Even into the mirror of eyes
Could not I find my own reflection
Or the face of love I knew to know

There in the night hours
I did stand upon the ground of Sacredness
Surrounded by the waters of peace
With rampant fear coursing through my bones
Ready to face the Carrion Dragon

You who eat death
With the breath of stench untold
Did shake the ground
And boil the water
As I could witness your swirling rage
Where no light did appear

You who have entered where you should not be
And wandered in where you do not belong
And stole what was not yours
And used what was not given to you
And lied to ears not honored for you
You who have been abhorred

I, even I, stood and offered my flesh
In challenge to you
Though you did not appear
Though you could have easily taken my life
Though you were chased and did not show your face

I, even I, stood a second night
In challenge to you
And any champion you would send
In your stead
Though none did appear
Save for the darkness of cloud
And rain and swirling of water
Moving in places
Where the ears hear the torments of the deep
Still none did stand to face me

I, even I, did stand that third and final night
After a lifetime of your blasphemies and torment
I did again Challenge you and anyone you would send
And as the clouds did descend upon me
And the wind rose up to smite my face
And the waters did boil
And the rain did set it course to move me away
I stood firm in offering of myself
For you to fight in challenge
To my very death was I willing

Still you did not appear
Nor did you send a champion
Nor did you send a minion or any other creature
of Darkness

And as I cried out in my most fearful moments
Still I proclaimed you to be a coward
Who would not even stand to face a man
And the lowest man on earth at that
Indeed low also am I in heaven

For who but I could challenge your cowardice?
A great man would use his strength against you
A righteous man would use his faith against you
A holy man would use his power against you
A good man would use his gift against you

But I who am none of these things
Nor spoken to by great men
Nor given ear by the righteous
Nor known to the holy
Indeed not even found in the favor of the saved
And those who proclaim life for all
Have Stood before you
With no words in my mouth prepared

Let it be known that as you failed
I who am nothing spoke
Proclaiming victory by your forfeiture
And your absence before my face

And though the very riles of death
Filled every vessel in me
Shaking me to my bones in fear of it
Still I stood alone in that darkness Free

Cast away you were from my future and past
Cast away were all your agents and your ways and means
Cast away from myself that first night
Cast away from my family and friends that second
Cast away from any thing I proclaim to be mine in that third

For it is I who walked onto that battle ground
Taking up your challenge for my life
And I who still stood in the end
To claim all spoils and rights of war

And there as I turned to walk away
Across that great dam and bridge to freedom
Then did I witness your flight
As that great Carrion Dragon
Out of my very flesh you withdrew
Up into the night air
You flew with blackened wings

Greater were you than I
Massive was your size
Loud was the flapping of your wings
And Rage was in your dark eye
All the way down to your taloned feet
And armored tail

There then did all your flock also follow
As lost dragons of time
To wander the sky for the dead
Filling the night sky with the darkness of the pit

Who could I thank but the Creator Himself
For teaching me the way of Works
In the face of Fear?
Who could I ask to forgive my transgressions
And my former fear
And my former hiding
But He who sees all?

Then just as I set foot upon the bridge
Did Light appear
And surround me
From that step even unto the whole path
To my home.

Ryan o0o