(Many thanks to Solostran for providing the inspiration for this.)


A Bitter Lament
---------------

Why is it that, in a world full of light,
I find only darkness awaiting me?
This world seems filled with promise
Radiant with prospects of joy and love
Yet only shadows greet my coming
And only despair hearkens to my call
Here I have found only grief and pain
And seen my own heart torn to shreds
As love's glow faded, and heartache
Sank deep within my embittered soul
Now all I see around me is nightfall
Without a single star to guide my path
Yet ever still I return and linger here
Unwilling to leave and unable to die.

Why do I return to the shadows still?
Is it my own torment that binds me?
Perhaps it is merely the black pleasure
Of watching my own soul pass away
Or perhaps it is something crueler still
The machinations of everlasting hope
Hope that someday I may seize the light
That surrounds me and tortures my heart
Before the darkness returns to claim me
Before I taste disappointment once more
And, enamored of my own self-hatred,
Seek death's oblivion to dispel the shadows
Hope that makes my sorrow only stronger
And plunges my soul into eternal night.

Penned by my hand on the 8th of Mayan, in the year 375 AF.