Fear Not Your Demons

In the midst of my winter,
I found a road
trodden but overgrown,
winding and scenic,
a path of descent.

It is there that I traversed elements
which kept hidden
my foes
until my lantern cast its cylindrical rays
upon their faces,
those unloved demons,
who hissed and snarled,
clawed their faces and scratched the dirt.

“Be not afraid” she whispered
“For they are but a figment
of a tortured Imagination,
reproduced through projected fertility.”

“Go to them and heal them,
embody the Medicine.
Invite them in so that you may
break bread with them.
Run your hands over their claws and
soothe their scales.
Love them
and nurture them.”

“Cradle their faces and look deeply
into their piercing eyes and say unto them
‘You are my children, let my light find your wounds.
Let your darkness fade to twilight, and let my rays restore you to glistening life.’”

“Request of them one thing in return: forgiveness;
for your abandonment
in their times of need and
your unbridled shame
of their very nature.

Plead for the forgiveness of your prisoners,
for the captivity you kept them in has left them
starving and clawing.
You have turned your back on your own children. Discarded, they became grotesque and
shrouded in shadow they rose as
The Discarded
The Unwanted
The Unloved
fruit of your womb.”

“Restore,” she advised
“your love and understanding.
Go to them, meet them in the Hell you constructed
as a home for your castaways.
Heal them and pull them close to your breast
and you shall be forgiven.

Converse with them
and you shall know strength and integrity.
Nurse them with loving devotion
and let them teach you.
Fear not the
misunderstood.

Fear not your demons
for they are angels in disguise.”