The darkness is coming.
He tries not to think about it.
Stays quiet,
As if the darkness can only find him
By sound.
Busies himself with the daily crossword,
The Jumble,
Kakuro.
But the black cloud finds him,
Arrives,
Hovers.
People say
That it will be okay in the end,
And if it is not yet okay,
Then it is not yet the end.
He was a diehard optimist once.
Nary a negative work escaped his lips.
He pushed away the bad thoughts.
But there is danger in that.
He is more realistic these days.
He tries to escape to the woods,
To nature,
To exercise his body.
It can take the bite out of the pain,
he thinks.
But not always.
It would be easy to just
Embrace that dark cloud.
There’s comfort there,
Inside the misery.
But there’s danger in there too.
He might not come back,
Though he has every other time before.
He hides from his friends
Until the dark cloud passes.
They need him healthy.
There are reasons to live.
