| | The Blinding Light |  |  | I am blinded by the light; yet it is dark, and cold, and damp,
 inside this cramped and dusky space.
 I am alone with my thoughts,
 alone with all of my memories.
 
 This light is blinding me. I cannot
 see a thing. I am afraid, isolated, alone,
 and I wonder how I came to be in
 this dark place. The light flickers across
 my furrowed brow, filters through my soul.
 
 The light is strange and eerie;
 yet I want to rise to meet its dance.
 I am here, but feel lost and confused.
 I remember a loud boom, feeling adrift
 as each moment of my life swept past.
 
 But I feel warmed by this light, too.
 Shadowy silhouettes are not unfamiliar,
 ghostly specters or demons of the dark.
 I recognize family members who look younger
 and much happier than I have seen them before.
 
 I am beckoned by the light. I feel like
 I am drifting away from my earthly home.
 My mother is calling to me. My sister cries
 wiping tears from her cheeks, from her eyes.
 She holds a folded flag in her hands.
 
 I am rising towards the light.
 I feel no sorrow at leaving this place.
 I have fallen in a strange and foreign land;
 yet I am reassured by my final destination
 as I ascend out of this cold, metal box.
 
 I am rising. Rising past my childhood days.
 Rising higher towards a new horizon,
 towards the light where war has ceased, and pain
 has been released. I have fought the good fight
 and never turned away from any battle.
 
 I am going to my real home, at last.
 To a Father's loving embrace,
 to a Son's welcoming smile
 where I feel weightless and serene. And, where
 the blinding light no longer blinds me at all.
 |  | Sharon Flynn Copyright 2004
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