Stalking the Night

Have hope my son,
my mother once said,
those days she once loved,
putting me to bed.

She's gone now,
I'm really sorry to say.
Dead, unbeknowenst to me,
I was off at school.

Now I set off to begin a quest,
for hope, for mercy, for compassion in a rotten earth.
Hope drives my spirit.
Mercy gives me hope.
Compassion was my mother's love.

To the land of darkness I travel.
Hope is done.
Rotten earth takes hold.

The glamour of painted signs, neon, and bright lights,
The constant journey of sin.
I see a man, running his finger in and out of his mouth,
Staring into my eyes.
I know his intention.

I am forced, an orphan into the darkest sin of man.
Sex, prostitution, a den of devil's play.

Arbitration...

Coming forth into the lights,
neon, millions of lightbulbs flashing in my eyes.

What have I done?

I leave sin's dark hovel behind,
What do I find?
Hope, Mercy, Compassion.

I find it at the grave of a woman I knew so well,
words etched, age worn eulogy.

"To my son, have hope."

I set out, new quest,
to find the man who left me behind.

He's trapped in a hornet's nest of sin,
And I am determined to bring him out,
to be a father to me.

Stalking the night I find him,
just leaving the crackhouse.

I ask him,
do you remember me?

He shakes his head and moves on,
that sin marked face drives me to his side again.

"I'm your son, you bastard!" I say.

It was as though I'd slapped him in the face.

"Have hope," he says to me, and leaves.

I feel an angel's breath behind me,
My mother's spirit reaching out to me,
I grasp her hand, and with light at side,
Leave the devil's den, and sinner's blight.

Finally, I enter the light,
Leave sin's hold behind, desecrate the blight,
That once had such dark hold on soul,
Now...I feel that I know.

Resolution's arbitration.