Candles Even Small Ones Will Push Back The Darkness

In honor of National Poetry Month, I have decided that todays blog would be a poem. This is the opening to my novel Shining In The Dark. It is based on my life and the people that were there can vouch to the events, even if I have changed all the names. What some don't know is that I once chased a bottle of sleeping pills with a bottle of wine. And I woke up. The following poem was my suicide letter. It's titled "The Diminishing Candle".

You tell me I should glow
     Like lamplight in the park
And remain a guide to the lost
     By Shining In The Dark

But I have come to realize
     Joy will never come my way
And my suffering will continue to grow
     With the passing of each day

For I found someone to love
     And gave her all I am
But now she has forsaken me
     Now I find I'm damned

So don't tell me I should glow
     My eyes have lost their spark
And until the day my soul returns
     I won't be shining in the dark