Tristan Robert Lange
Catalyst
There is
Darkness
Within me,
It is true.
I cannot, at all,
Deny that
Anymore
Than I can
Deny
The pull of
The moon
On my somber,
Sullen
Self.
But that,
my friend,
Is who I appear
To be
To those who
Know me not,
To those who
Haven’t taken
The time to
Open the door
To my hurting,
Yet hopeful
Heart,
Their own part
In a game of
Take,
But never give.
Yet, what is most
Concerning
Is the fact that,
As dark as you
Notice
I am,
Your darkness runs
Far
D
e
e
per than mine,
As if your own pain
Was too great
To physically bear,
So your soul
Picked up the slack,
Eventually crushed
By the weight of
Love’s negelct.
I do not judge you
The way you judge me.
I do not judge you at all.
Rather, I witness
How weathered,
How wearied,
You’ve become,
Whether you know it
Or not.
It saddens me—
Scares me even—
To think
Of where this
Darkness
Might eventually lead,
Reminding me
How easy it is
To be consumed—
Owned—
By what possesses us.
The darkness is in me—
That I cannot deny—
It, to some extent
Or another,
Is within us all.
But friend,
I need you to know
That the darkness
Is but an expanse—
Undefined—
In which light
Can travel
Through.
If you just look,
Just seek the light,
It will find you,
And fill the expanse
Found in the
Silent spaces
Within the
Cracks
Of your heart.
It is there where
The damned darkness
Becomes darling,
Where the holes
Become hope,
And where
The cracks produce
Creativity.
Friend,
This darkness—
Its expansive reach—
It is not a curse.
No, it is not a curse;
It is a fucking
Catalyst.
© 2025 Tristan Robert Lange. All rights reserved.