III

Master of my domain and keeper of darkness, I own the night.  I am pestilence and famine.  I am the watchman of eeriness.    I trudge through the valley of darkness searching for lost souls who have fallen off the beaten path.  These pitiful creatures are quite easy to round up.  Often isolated amongst the facade of norm; they are truly trapped even though they appear free.  Some are still afloat by means of lifelines, but even they are dragged down easily into the murky seas.  Captains of hope make efforts to go on rescue missions to save those who have started to sink below the waterline.  But those who have already gone under are considered too far gone to save.  Swill merchants, don’t they know that too far gone doesn’t mean just submersion.  Each layer breaks down a different part of what it is to be you.  I take things slow in order to make one suffer long drawn out pain; the kind that never really leaves even after reaching safety.  I am empowered by your relapses and take joy in haunting you when times seem good.  I tick like a time bomb awaiting my time to explode.  Your tears are the elixirs of my life.  Like cancerous tumors, I spread without warning and strike with deadly force.  To ignore me is to ignore oneself completely.  I am you; I become you; I consume you.  I am now your personality and your only friend.  Only one force can combat me.  The mind is a force to be watchful of.  He can be manipulated into an ally or turned into a foe.  He is a wavering force that has no bounds or limits.  To know him is to master oneself.  To ignore his power is either arrogance or foolishness on my part.  I know many ways in which to deceive him because of many years of practice, which has made me quite good at it.  Nothing but mastery of self can over come my grasp.  I travel swiftly and allow no safe havens.  I am what bumps in the night and what is waiting around every corner.  I am the darkness…I am fear