Path of Shadows or Et Earn Etty, which poem do you like better?

PATH OF SHADOWS

Unpublished work Copyright © 2010 by the author

Sheets of it come pouring down

some just see it

Some love it...

Others will fight it.

But it keeps on falling.

I lie awake here

sleep rarely visits me...

as elusive

as what I search for

in these cold, lonely places

it's dark and restless

but it's shallow and fleeting...

It smells sweet,

at first.

Then illusion fades,

truth illuminated

the scent ripens, rots.

I've kept searching.

My darkness deepens further

but I do not stop!

How far will I go?

I'm not sure I have the answer.

Dizzying heights,

stomach churning falls,

this persistence is frightening.

Yet the curtains remain still

the drapes drawn so tightly.

It lingers...

the chill engulfs, intensifies.

Time's bony fingers

reek of remembrance,

tightening its grip.

Trudging on.

Trudging on.

ET EARN ETTY

Unpublished work Copyright © 2010 by the author

I've found peace in seclusion,

I've found comfort within.

The tunnel through eternity

widens.

The words form in my mind

But are they fancy or fact?

Fear

Uncertainty

Maintaining my grasp

as tenuous as it is

becomes easier

as times winds whisper,

urging,

compelling,

forcing me forward.

I do not look back

quite as often.

Yet those glances behind continue

over my shoulder

as I feel its breath on my neck.

Its gaze

penetrating,

revealing.

I cannot hide

for I know who I am.

Acceptance

is required

as much as regret

restricts,

constricts.

Still,

pressure builds

ever increasing

ever onward

as the journey that wears many faces

never ends...