Poem by Erin Sullivan

Just a little girl, age nine at the oldest,
She doesn’t know a thing about reality.
She lives in a world where she could be a princess,
And fairytale endings really do exist.
The scariest thing about her precious life
Is the walk to the bathroom at night when it's really dark.
She doesn’t know what it is that scares her so much
About the dark. But it does… scare her.
I think back to that little girl that I used to be very often.
And now I think I know why I was so scared
Of the dark, that is.
Because who knows what’s out there, you can’t see.
I don’t like to believe in things I can’t see, but
It's so hard to believe in anything… when it's dark.
There could be monsters, or murderers,
Or boyfriends that don’t treat you right, or
Parents that stay up all night and fight,
Or just plain old loneliness.
And I think back to that dark teenager I used to be,
People must have been so scared of me.
I was endless and hard to see, like the dark
That separated the bathroom from me.
But now I understand
That the dark, twisty places are meant to be seen.
But only by a few that won’t just have pity.
They’ll be there, and even if they don’t understand,
They’ll understand that they won’t necessarily understand all the time.
And that understanding is more than any
Advice.
I look back and I think
There will always be things I’ll be terrified of.
The dark in the hallway
The dark in my soul.
But one way or another
Fears must be conquered.