Poem: Candelit Walk

I walk along
The wild path
Barely tamed
Not often trod upon.
I have often stumbled
Even fallen.
I have walked
Through howling winds
And battering storms.
My muscles and bones
Have screamed for relief.
Blood has seeped
From dozens of wounds.
Yet still I walked on
Through stormy days
And still calm nights;
Through sunny days
And tempestuous twilights;
Through the turning seasons
Times good and bad
I have walked on.
Voices have whispered and cried
“Change this” and “Do that”
“Stop that” and “Be like this”
Yet I have resisted them all
Knowing that
I must be honest
To myself most of all.
Through my long walk
A small candle
Has burned inside
Kept alight
By love divine.
Pushing me here
Guiding me there
This small candle
Has kept alive
My love and hope and faith,
These have given me
The strength to keep walking.