Work Text:
What is it they say again?
-o-
Don't think about the
darkness.
Don't think about the
agony, nor of your blood
dripping in gold rivers
past torn limbs.
Think about the first time
you saw your brothers'
faces, as they reached
into hell for you.
Even if their joy soon
turned into horror.
-o-
Don't think about the
darkness.
Don't think about the
loneliness, nor of the isolation
because your tongue is
stubborn as stone.
Think about the first time
you saw the golden gleam
of Hera in sunlight.
Even if she never stopped
wincing at your open wounds.
-o-
Don't think about the
darkness.
Don't think about being a
prisoner due to making a deal
you didn't understand the
price of because it was needed.
Think about the sun on your
face, the breeze on your skin,
the sweetness of springtime.
Even if that can last only
a fragile moment in time.
-o-
Darkness is not inherently evil.
Darkness does not make monsters,
Any more than light makes heroes.
-o-
Think about the darkness.
Think about how it was
only in darkness that you
were able to find the space
at last to heal.
Think about how it was
only in darkness that you
were able to grow an empire
and power and wealth
from the bed of chaos.
Think about how it was
only in darkness that you
found a home amongst all
the folk that people call
only monsters.
Don't think about how they,
too, now call you a monster.
For what do the comforting
lies above ground matter to
the final truths below it?
-o-
Did not the rose find the diamond
because he glittered in the
darkness, like
a forest fire
brilliant against
the backdrop of winter?
Darkness does not twist you;
it just extinguishes the mask
you only show to others
in the light.