Locked Ivory Doors Poem by Mark Gould

“Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing. Use the pain as fuel, as a reminder of your strength.”
- August Wilson -


Bloodied and beaten
A small price to pay
Enemies trampled
Miraculous victory

Demons seared
By the light of white swords
Burning bright
Like boundless Starlight

From the mouth came those words
Yet that blade has been dulled
That same shame is sheared
My fate has been called

Fear loosed from my soul
Stripped of the sadness
Same hungry cowards
Hungry for madness

It's not here anymore
No clouds of rage
No cries of the tragic
Just wakes of the brave

Just pure renewal
Like springs of hope
Like shimmering waterfalls
In desert's winding slopes.

Those ghosts of the past
Mock me no more
They visit in vain
To see
Locked
Ivory doors.