Ink Prayer Poem by Barry Middleton

in hours before the dawn
with too much time to think
I can depend on you
the night is raven ink

they say that black is void
and has no inner light
that is not true for me
it serves to fire the night

black ink on purest white
has never let me down
but lights the way for me
to don the poet's crown

but now I am struck blind
and paralyzed by fear
oh do not take from me
the work that I hold dear

please do not take my voice
I do not need to hear
I can forgo love's touch
but give me one more year

no do not steal from me
the ink upon this page
that guards me till the dawn
from tears and grief and rage