The Edge

Most of us will never know

How dark this world can seem

When life becomes more nightmare than a dream.

So to all of you who have survived

A visit to the edge,

I trust that you will understand this pledge.

I promise I will always leave

The darkness for the light.

I swear by all that's holy

I will not give up the fight.

I'll drink down death like water

Before I ever come again

To that dark place where I might make

The choice for life to end.

I've found that as I travelled

Through the inscape of my land

That mountaintops make valleys in between.

And when that nameless sadness

Like a cloud comes over me

I look back on all the brightness I have seen.

I realize that though my world

Might seem so torn apart,

Most often it is joy that breaks the heart.

And that I am the richest man

Though I must beg for bread,

For the very One who might condemn

Has called me friend instead.

I will always leave the darkness for the light.

I will not give up the fight.