Nightfall Poem by Istabraq Al Ahmadi

The night falls heavily upon my heart,
And blurs the visions in the space
Between my dreams and awkward sight.
Thus, sleepless I hesitantly measured
the distance left for me to walk,
And the steps to follow.
Fearful to tread that path,
Winding to as far as my eyes could see,
With no moon to brighten the wide
Expanse of the starless forest,
Where leaves fall on either side,
Leaving the trees endlessly caught
In the inevitable nakedness of now,
And tomorrow's promise of new blossoms.
The shadows the bare boughs cast
Above the surface of the wrinkled road
Wanted me to stop
Where I am,
And to accept what to come
With a heart tuning its pulses to nothingness.
Though, at first, not knowing
Where the path might lead,
I walked the darkness
Singlehandedly,
Not because I could not do otherwise.
And while my heart was swinging,
Back and forth, like the old sinews
Of a man whose blood is warm no more,
While my mind was refusing to silence
The echoes of my weary footfalls,
And to erase the footprints
Left behind me,
Out from the heart of the dark void,
A voice gently called to me:
'Surely, there will always be light
For the one who seeks it,
And joy for those who never yield.'