Those voices always called out of darkness
commanding, muted and whispering
so I did not hear them,
what with the pleasant light of day shining round me
and them in the caves of my mind
telling me what to do
what to think and feel.
I was a slave unaware,
so happy in it
not noticing those
who were constantly awake,
making the decisions
so often.

This appalling view of pressured confusion,
with creatures bullying in me,
sneering and cajoling,
seems like utter darkness,
an end to sanity
but is really
an angered normality
illumined by God
so we see
what has gone on before
all the time.

And now
while it may seem like a worse darkness
than we have ever known,
a nightmare,
the light that fell with us
shows simply
we are creatures sunk in the mud
of a dark pool
in a king’s forest.

These murky nights of the soul,
make a story of illumination,
an eternity of acceptance,
in which the presence of God
comes closer than the breath,
friendship more inward than the marrow,
kindness itself,
without which we are condemned
to endlessly
be ourselves.

Ian Trousdell

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hard-times-the-light-that-fell-with-us/