Alone In The Dark

There is a difference between pointing the light
and being the light.
Fear separates the two.
Slices them straight down the middle.

For so long I have held a beacon,
shone it as far as it would reach,
encouraging weary travelers
through dark nights of the soul.

Never moving too far ahead
Always within earshot,
assuring a shared journey.
Acting brave, walking ahead...but just so far.

I thought that this was love.
But this was fear, disguised yet again.
Hiding itself from me in cloaks of thoughts
and notions about love.

Handing off the lantern, I sit down.
Alone in the cool damp grass of my life.
The path I once chose disappears into the night,
and with it any thought of or about love.

All alone in the darkness, stillness rises,
and with it, the awareness that I am.

There is a difference between pointing the light
and being the light.