I Walk in Darkness

I once walked in darkness and knew no light, until a bright star broke loose from the vault of heaven. I saw it streak across the darkness in a graceful plunge to land upon a hill in my night-blackened landscape. Never had I seen such a thing so bright with its tail fanned out behind it in glittering particles, gems upon black velvet. Where it landed, it threw sparks into the air and fizzled to a pulsing glow. Curious and eager, I climbed the steep hill on top of which it lay. Breathless, I reached the very top to find the pieces of the star nestled in a crater. The fragments were jagged where they had separated from the whole, but smooth on their outer perimeter like some orb that had been struck at it's center with chisel and hammer. Broken though it was, the star cast its pure white light upon the night. Never had my wretched eyes looked upon a light so bright, let alone so pure. The intensity of the thing threatened to blind my night-crippled eyes, but I could not look away. Like a child, I felt drawn to that which I had never experienced and I felt sympathy for the fragments, for they laid there so sadly. I put my hands out to scoop up the pieces and press them together, to unite them that they may be whole again, but they burned white-hot against my palms! I cried out and withdrew, cradling my scalded flesh. The glowing fragments of the star flashed brighter still, imprinting their dazzling light upon my eyes like a white film over my sight, before going out completely and hiding their light from me.

The flesh upon my palms still throbs with pain for which no salve exists. And I walk in a darkness now much deeper than I have ever known for having known the light.