Darkness Bleeding Daylight

This is the last in my Darkness Bleeding Daylight series.
They follow in this order:

Give Us A Pilgrim Soul
Josiah the Seeker
Amongst the Stone Angels
The Empty
Grace and Midnight
Rolling from the Heavens
One of the People
Darkness Bleeding Daylight

These poems can stand alone, but they are intended to be read in one sitting.

After listening to some seriously languid and haunting music, (the cowboy junkies, spiritualized, morphine, etc...) I decided to make some revisions to a few things I wrote a few stops back on the road.
Now I understand what things like "complete master recordings," or "uncut and unabridged," mean.
I often think of my poetry as a piece of music. It took a band like the Cowboy Junkies to let me realize what could and should be done. I often have something of a vision in my head when I write. Sometimes it's a concert, alive with sound. Other times it's just a smokey back room. But in any event, the pieces I have included here are part of a collection called Darkness Bleeding Daylight.
The idea of kicking the darkness appeals to me on several different levels. I like the idea of reaching the end of your rope and then realizing for certain that only us as individuals can rise up like a phoenix. Granted, some privledged people have certain means at their disposal that other don't. But realistically, it takes something in each of us to decide we've had enough. So, we begin to kick the darkness until it bleeds daylight.
That's ultimately the point. Beat the darkness and live your life.
On another note, my own feelings toward God and the philosophy and theology surrounding him have made their prescence felt in these poems. It didn't happen deliberately. It became clear that God and all the emotions swirling in my head subconsciously had to be released. Sometimes we don't know what we feel until the words we write tell us.
Sometime in Febuary of 2003, I finally came to a decision and made peace with God. Now, I'm not going to say something asinine about my relationship with the man, but what I will say is that sometimes I go to sleep at night and I say "thanks for the day, boyo," and sometimes I forget. But through it all I have to say that I'm at peace with the man.
I'm on a long road with no other passengers as I seek to find the wisdom to be the man I want to be. The road is long and I make discoveries about myself almost daily. I know that I'll probably never ultimately be the man I want to be because there's so much to know and do in this huge world, I couldn't possibly absorb everything I want. But, I can start each day knowing that I'm going to make discoveries and follow new leads and clues. I've always adored Indiana Jones, and I guess I'm my own Indy on a quest for my inner holy grail.
These poems helped bring that into a reality for me.