The Beast

[Da****]

A dark-hearted beast in an ink-black night,
The rain carried sideways into his face.
He will not admit to being lost,
Adrift on the murky road.

 

Is it rain that creases his cheeks?
Or hopelessness welling out of ***shot eyes.
*** and loathing blind  his heart,
Awareness of the distance from ruin to hope.

 

Hunted and caged, for the good of all,
Silence soaked concrete brings no peace.
For he is always in that blighted darkness,
An alien among his own kind.

 

Not logic but song bring the first hope,
A lyric of truth set to rising chords,
A soothing of the heart-sick beast,
The promise of a new dawn amidst the rubble.

 

In weeks and months of seeking,
***s and struggle seared in ***ful truth.
A new story emerges from the angry monstrosity,
One written in light and hope and trust.

 

"I am not a Monster, but a man of worth.
My mistakes do not bind tomorrow.
I will bear with dignity the justice and injustice of my past,
And work to build my future."

 

Into the cold and misty dawn a Man, not Beast, strides,
Despite the rain and fog he pushes forward - ever forward.
His inner compass aligned True North,
The Beast transformed, lost no more.