I had overstayed my welcome in my bed
the security I once found beneath the sheets was now stifling
my limbs were asleep though my brain hadn’t slept a wink
too paralyzed by my thoughts to truly rest

I sat up and opened my eyes
but I may as well have kept them closed
for my room was cloaked in the darkness similar to that of midnight
though the passage of time had well evaded my mind

days spent in shadows had weakened my soul
so much so that I felt I had become one,
a distorted darkness of who I once was
denied the sweet savior of sunlight

I needed the sun to take my head in her hands
and lead me to a life of salvation
with her rays softly soaking my skin
until Ii could learn to bask in them again

yet when I threw back my curtains
ready to face the real world once more
I was met with the absence of a blue sky
and the sun was merely a sliver

watercolors were streaked across the horizon
the hues of Mother Nature’s masterpiece before me
the sunset was breathtaking
and all the same it was heartbreaking

for after it followed the night
filled with a darkness that was neither a stranger nor a friend
and though I believed in no higher powers
this felt like a sign

and so I began to close my curtains
so that I may return to my bed
with vain hopes that the next time I may arise
the sunlight will have arrived

that’s when I saw the sliver of sun begin to grow
and the watercolors bled together
as clear blue water washed them away
and it dawned upon me like the dawn before me:

I convinced myself that I was seeing a sunset, when it was truly a sunrise