Tunnel

Ink from pen

Flows to paper

Gliding, graceful, connecting

The rapid breathing

Rise and fall of my chest

Slows, loses desperation

The frantic beat of my heart

Gradually calms

Tightness diminishes

Finally my mind is free

To flow, to follow train of thought

At last I allow myself

To feel

And burrowed there beneath it all

Is a strength

Once lost, but finding its way

Seeing the light

At the end of the tunnel

And as I step slowly

Out of my tunnel

I know I will return

For I have been here before

Sometimes to visit

Sometimes to flee

And, more recently, to call it home

For this tunnel may be dark

And flames of light

Tend to flicker

But walls mean protection

And though loneliness

Is my companion inside these walls

And so often the rocks fall down around me

It is a darkness I know

A familiar place to be

Whether I choose it or not

Means nothing

For my road will always

Bring me back to here

Not because I'm caught

In some endless cycle

Nor am I powerless to change

But each time I visit darkness

There is a door

Some new way out

Each fork in the tunnel

Grows different from the rest

Leads to something new

Or a new way to see the old

And when that darkness surrounds

And the ceiling threatens to collapse

I will not wait

But will pour the darkness

Through ink from pen

And onto paper

And I will let the words

Flow away

Until I find my light