Dawn & Dusk

I am angry
I am hurt
I lived my life
Haunted by a black bird

A dark shadow
Over my shoulder
Its screeching cries
Making me shiver

It stood at my bedpost
During the night
Built a nest in my skull
To rest from its flight

It chased me around
In fear for so long
But then I looked up
And saw something was wrong

Its shadow did not match
Its pathetic frame
And the screech that it made
Was to hide that it was tame

It was a tiny thing
Pitiful, really
Resorting to trickery
So it didn’t look silly

But all the miles
It made me run
Gave me endurance
Made me strong

It trained me for
The mountains I now climb
It made me resilient
My fears to defy

One day I grabbed that bird
And throttled it by the throat
And watched as my fears
Slowly began to choke

And a weight lifted
All of a sudden, from my mind
And I realised that now
It was I, who could fly