A Guiding Light

I walk through this world of violent winds,
through forests of terror with grappling limbs.
Through valleys of hatred that harbor no light
I feel my way forward, abandoned of sight.
The pathway is narrow and oft intersected;
with no one to guide me, alone I’ve selected.
With trouble and sorrow at every dead end,
I turn back and search for a place to begin.
I’m scared in the darkness and can’t find my way.
Now who will protect me from going astray?

I glance from the dirt to the far away sky
and see there a gem star, impossibly high.
It shines with a brilliance above all my woe,
yet penetrates into these shadows below.
A heavenly charity shines from this light
and shows me a pathway to set me aright.
So onward I travel up mountains of hope,
the guiding light brighter with every slope.
As closer and closer I come to my goal
a joyful serenity captures my soul!

This was written in 1999 as a reaction to the Columbine shooting. The first part is my exploration of how a person might become a monster. The second part is my hope for how a person might not become a monster.