Stolen Joy

All your life you've been alone;
You've never had a true friend,
Nor have you felt real love.
All has been shadow,
Solitude,
And darkness.
You never knew the light,
So you did not care
That night was all around you.
How can this deep dark die?
In what land does light linger,
What far country
In this world?
You wondered these things
As you suddenly
Found yourself
In an unknown place.
A strange, foreign land
Beyond the far horizon.
You were frightened;
You were even more alone.
Then something happened
That you did not expect.
Like minds met yours
In fellowship,
Brotherhood,
And joy,
That joy, the very same,
Which long you envied
In others;
Now, it was yours.
For once you felt alive;
For once the darkness fled
Before the light
Of love itself.
You wished those days,
Those joyous days,
Would never end.
But life loves not the light
Of joy,
Nor love.
Life knows only pain;
They are bedfellows.
One does not come
Without the other.
You thought this true,
But knew it not
Until now.
Some dark shadow
Returned to you,
A volatile shade,
Which sought to steal
The joy you'd found.
And it did.
No longer felt you
The joy of friends.
An unspoken wall
Surrounded you all.
A nameless fear
Was on everyone's mind,
A dread thought,
A foul humor.
You prayed for freedom
From this darkness.
But you were made
More the slave
To its vile whim
And its dark will.
Your joy,
Once so bright,
Beautiful,
And bountiful,
Was hollow,
Empty,
And cold.
The darkness won;
The nameless fear
Triumphed over
The hope of light.
Your stolen joy
Is no more.
Such is life
That when
We just begin
To know joy,
It is taken from us.