You Gathered Up
I was alone before you came
alone and lost from all
my heart in pieces scattered round
like shards of broken glass
I was adrift in the quiet dark
in a far away place
where only memories bloomed
and only sadness grew
I built a place, a place of stone
I built it over time
I built it high with bricks and tears
and fragments of my soul
that place and I
grew steadfast friends
and with the strongest of resolve
day by day that place and I
we faded from the world
we turned away, from dreams of love
from happiness, from peace
and toiled alone to make them strong
the walls that kept us in
and in that place I ran from me
denied all that I was
and so each day, page by page
rewrote my history
in that place without the light
I never saw my loss
until the day, the fateful day
there came the breeze of change
in the dark a flame appeared
a terrifying sight
it flickered wildly in my soul
in burnished hues of love
and yes, in all the shades of you
I put my hands across my eyes
and turned my face away
vowed again to stay inside
and not to enter the fray
you did not heed
my deepest fears
nor listen to my doubts
despite the stones
that blocked your way
your soul reached out to mine
and around the walls
you endlessly circled
and planted seeds that flourished
a garden, a joy to see
rising from the darkness
creeping inch by inch
across the ebbing night
to me
stone by brutal stone
you fought
and saved me from this place
this place of loneliness
and endless misery
you tore it down
and helped me see
what was before unseen
and piece by broken piece
you gathered up my heart
and gave it back to me
© Ann Bagnall
2015
