Every night it is the same:

           no map, only a handful of trust in You.

 

I stand at the shore of my life each evening

           while the day’s light flows away from me,

                      all the color pulling down after it

                      until only a dim edge remains,

                                 and then it is gone too.

 

I fall over the edge of awareness

           as light pulls away

and I drift, afloat on Your arms

           to disappear from myself

                      into darkness.

 

Unknowing, I hold to You in trust.

 

Sudden waking, jarring me out of dream,

           leaves me only You in the face of darkness.

I pray for the return of sleep,

           not daring to doubt You, whom I cannot see.

Nothing I know can shelter me here

           but You.

There is no other way across.

 

At dawn, my self drifts back

           out of shadows

and I pull myself together

           into a world of color

                      and floods of possibilities.

 

Here I reach

           for signs of You

           within everything,

                      and I hold on.

—Carol Bosworth