How Darkness Wins
by Michael Romani

Sometimes it feels like "it's a bad day"
Has somehow become our last best way
It's hard to move forward with the feeling
That our whole world keeps on reeling

Life lives with way too much sadness
Has become our own national madness
It is a pervasive emotional disease
That takes away our grace and ease

Looking at the darkness straight on
Sometimes it gets hard to hold on
Focused on struggles as we lose hope
Holding on to our very last rope

Faith is disturbed by silent screams
Losing our path to our sweet dreams
The Prophets have felt this as have I
Too many tears that I have left to cry

The damage felt in all of this falsity
Erodes the strength of lives lived in honesty
So many hold on to their idols without clarity
Believing that no gods have any sincerity

When it comes to roost inside your soul
And all life is decidedly out of control
Fear pervades as all of our faith is lost
Tell me what souls can withstand this cost

The Deceiver, he creates our fears
It's a spiritual war and we fight it there
What we fear most is where we believe least
Losing our way into the belly of the Beast

Crying out to God, we have had enough
No energy left and unwilling to bluff
Our focus falls off God and is kept on our trials
Satan wins as, one by one, we lose our smiles

Down in the spiral of our dark thoughts
This is how the Devil seeks what he has always sought
To keep at us as an adversary provoking our sin
It is in this way that Satan claims his wins

The pressure felt to push and to excel
Is but one path that leads us straight to Hell
We need to take a little time to rest
It's how we keep on God's path the best

Time to get off the road to final burn out
No need to be a super nova that bursts into doubt
Instead, gently find your way to recovery
Allowing each day to be its own new discovery

Quietly calling out to God's Holy name
Finding in it our cure and us no longer lame
Walking through these days which we are lent
Our hearts filled with grace and our knees are bent

In the Lord we will find our best rest
Like David's lamentations played at each test
Wearing our emotions on sleeves instead of hiding
It is in the Lord that we are always abiding

Finding the peace that we so desire
By putting out undue burdens that burn like fire
Spending too much time in un-splendid isolation
We must rebuild community to rebuild our nation

The burning bush tells this as its grand story
That has been true throughout all of history
That the whisper of a gentle, flowing wind
Is the quiet correction of our greatest friend

To learn and we grow we must hush and listen
Whether in sunshine or the cold snow that glistens
Taken away from the noise we can finally hear
Walking the walk of love and away from our fear

(c) March 19, 2018  Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved