On the edge of genius, madness waits.
Hell’s harrowing half-light lingers
outside Heaven’s gates.

Brilliant, dazzling blaze draws me in,
seizes me, extracts sensibility.
Lightning flashes, then,

            total eclipse.

Now shadows block me that longs to shine.
Dark’s passage burrows deep, dims this
little light of mine.

Black fades to never-ending shades of gray
that stretch into perpetuity. I
await blessed day

            the scales will tip.