Dark Faith (A prayer)

I do not know where the myth began
that faith was all light and sunshine,
a lie perhaps, of the devil himself,
who knew better,

who is better at seduction
than reality, knowing if we grasped the lie
and made it out own,
we would be left

betrayed and bewildered
when the sun set,
when midnight wind turned cold
and our bones and hearts broke,

knowing the myth would leave us weak
when we needed our strength most,
knowing that once we felt betrayal
we would never call out

to the one who could save us.

So give me dark faith.
Hard faith.
Let me struggle. Let me rant
and rail. Let me doubt.

Let me curse
and fall on my knees,
half in anger, half in hope.

Let the weather tear at me
and leave me gasping, grasping
for a hand in the dark.
Let me learn that salvation always comes
through the darkest paths.

About this poem

Faith is easy for some. It has not always been so for me. I work at it. It’s worth the work, but I don’t pretend it’s easy.

The painting is one of mine, titled of course, “Dark Faith”. And because people ask, the original is sold, but prints are available.)