Holding The Torch

I do not lead you 

I walk with you 

Side by side

Step by step

Not above you

Not behind you 

But beside you 

And through the hard places

I hold the torch

Because I remember the dark

I remember what it feels like to forget yourself

To disappear in plain sight

I hold the torch when the way ahead

Feels blurred and brutal and impossible 

I hold the torch because I know this place 

The hollow silence

The aching 

And I know it will not swallow you

I will stay with you 

When you forget to feel

I will sit with you

When old patterns flare

And the noise gets too loud 

You are not alone 

This is the path

This is the rising

That you will one day speak of as sacred

I hold the torch

Not to lead you

But to remind you 

That your own light

Is already on its way

By Tanya Cameron