My mind goes back to a time long ago
Where I had lived without seeing.
The memory, faint, lingers like a cold
Terrorizing my very being.

Lost on a path from all I had known
A star losing its light.
Searching for answers successfully hidden
I tried with all of my might.

A door was left open so far from me
All I had to do was reach.
But there on the threshold mockingly stood
The insubordinate thief.

He told me to leave this foolish endeavor
Of stepping out into the light.
To turn back, forget, and never attempt
To spread my wings and take flight.

Convincing, conniving, and jealous he was
And ruthless to virtually no end.  
His tricks and his games would always defeat
And I’d try my best to defend.

Bloodied and bruised I lay on the floor
When he had taken his fill.
It was right then and there I knew I could stand
And exercise my own kind of will.

A battle royale commenced there between
The insubordinate thief and I.
I’d taken the blows and sent them right back
Until I would see that thief die.

He muttered a whisper, a squeamish request;
“This is what I ask of you now:
Take what you did to me on this day
and show all your brethren how.

“How you defeated me with your own strength
And what this victory means.
The future is yours, I can’t interfere,
Your mind is free now it seems.”

And still to this day I can recall
The touch of that thief’s icy hand.
But far from me now is where he shall remain,
Away from where I now stand.