I have spent a lifetime in the shadows

Dodging the sunlight, evading its rays

So much easier to live with myself that way

Never having to really examine what I was

Embracing the darkness and revelling in its anonymity

Doing things that could never happen in the light of day

My soul even darker than the darkest night

And my heart harder than solid granite

The inky blackness of the night at one with the savage beast that lived inside of me

Coming out in the darkness and preying upon the weak

Innocents drawn to me like moths to the flame

And I, gladly taking their offerings, without one iota of remorse

But one night, the innocent was you

And it was I who was burned

Straight through to my heart, to my soul

You took my hand, and led me into the light

And though I'm still haunted by the shadows

By all of the damage that I did

Though I constantly fight the pull of the nighttime

I live here with you in the lightness of day

Ever knowing I don't deserve the purity of your love

Yet determined to hold fast to it for as long as I live

Terri Lyn Stanfield

6/25/2001