The Valley Of Shadows Poem by Resten Swondo

I feared no death, I lived
With life in my veins,
Nothing in my thinking head
Lust in my loins,
Screaming folly in my lungs…

I feared no death in violence
Though men killed for no right
But the cheap honour’s fancy;
Easily found in
homebrewed beer or insolent wine.

I feared no pain, no brokenhearted
Plea pierced the carapace of my soul,
Or forced abandonment of the need
I created in my arrogance
And my selfishness

Unconscious that my foolishness
Placed obligations upon others
That every heart I broke belonged
To the mothers of my children
Infected with my diseases

Of the heart, of the mind.
I walked this valley of shadows
Foot weary, watery of eye
Cramped of the jaw,
Directionless and drifting,

And saw that the shadows were
Reflections of myself
Seen by others, that I was fear
And feared nothing because
I knew not myself.

In myself I walked a while
And found that everything
Worth respect in me had died,
But I knew it not
Because I knew not myself.