Dark Steed

A shriveled moon bears little light,
Casting the road ahead in darkness' delight.
Clouds of death gray cut her in parts,
First her moon eyes and then her moon heart.
Trees barren from winter wind,
Stand as skeltons at each turn and bend.
The wind moans a keening cry,
As a mother watching her child die.
Not one soul treds this black highway, indeed,
Only I and my dark steed.
Hoofbeats beating muffled drumbeats,
Keeping rythmn as the mourning wind retreats.
Dark despondancy whirling in my mind,
My reason gone as disease malingned.
Squeezing each thought with fists of steel,
Confusing me as to what is or is not real.
Onward, we rush, the steed and I,
Running, running, our purpose to belie,
The spectre of despair pursuing, rentlessly,
My sanity at risk, my fear lasting endlessly.
A river of frozen ice looms ahead,
We must cross it or be dead.
I call upon the dark steed,
"Oh, mount of heart, pay heed."
Bear us to flight,
Or we die in this dark despondant night.
Am I riding a wraith of hell,
Or a mount of a magick spell.
Touch fingertip to my face,
The animal quickens the pace.
In snow-laden banks, how can we proceed,
To get the length and distance we need.
With prayer upon thin, frozen lips from inside,
We begin the perilous slide.
Suddenly, the moon has broke through,
Her face full and radiant in bright and new,
Her love lights the way,
Holding the dark despondency at bay.
Into the air, we launch,
Land right or life's blood I'll never staunch.
Airborne, in bitter, bright night,
Like angels in heavenly flight.
Down, down in gravity's grip,
Be ground or drowning ice with the wrong slip.
Hard, gut-jarring thud, land on solid ground,
Rearing, whirling, to turn around.
On the far bank, I see
The haunted spectre of despondency.
It can not cross this river of ice
It can not pursue me twice.
In the moonlight, I look to the steed,
This mount has changed in the frantic need,
From bad to good, from dark to light,
God had given a unicorn to ride this night!
Stay in your dead land, dark despondency,
This victim is free from you eternally!