Then I Saw the Light

Too many years spent in depression buried beneath a pile of regrets pills of every color aside my glass, cuts of every size scabs included Broken pieces of my heart scattered from Newfoundland to Toronto I'd forgotten the taste of content and the sound of jabbering friends They tried to help me by taking me to therapy but I cried myself to sleep every time I spoke to him, about my childhood pain and the awful abuse One day I decided to go visit an old chapel that kept their side door open this kind woman let me in and ushered me into a back pew then left I felt a rush of panic, all I wanted was to run but then I began to talk the words spilled out of my heart, onto a crucifix of pewter and gold I told him all my secret fears and all the things my mind struggled with gazing upon that cross I suddenly realized that he'd been broken too On a crumpled piece of paper I scratched out three words " I choose life " then I left the chapel door open and walked out into the sun, alive... Its not like I cured myself all at once it took time, but I finally did it one day at a time , first I crawled, then I walked, then I saw the light. December 9th, 2020 Sponsor: Regina McIntosh Contest Name: "The Light"