There was a sad, old man dressed in black, trapped in a dark deserted place,
A place both endless and ending. Timeless, ephemeral, and not of the light.
A place that was at once claustrophobic and yet seemed to span endless space.
It was a place of infinite sadness, and Old Richard called it the Endless Night.
“Old Richard!”, the darkness called, a vicious smile forming on its formless face,
“You’ve built a wondrous and terrible realm” he called from nowhere with delight.
“Begone from me,” Old Richard cried out to the void; his voice filled with distaste.
But the darkness was Old Richard’s only company in the place of the Endless Night.
“Tell me once again of how you lost all love”, the formless night asked unabashed,
“Of how you were a young, selfish and foolish man, of how you learned in hindsight,
“That you were a curse to everyone around you”, its voice cut the silence like a lash.
Because there was no way to hold back remorse in the place of the Endless Night.
So Old Richard began to speak to the darkness of a time when he had lost all hope.
He fed his sorrow to the lightless, whose joy grew with each word the man did recite.
Old Richard recounted his story of pain and anguish. It was all he could do to cope.
Because there was nothing to do but feed sorrow to the place of the Endless Night.
“She was a love I had in my heart. She was Juliet and she was as bright as the Sun,
“She was a burning fire filled with joy and I was the damp coal only she could ignite,”
“Her fire burned brighter than I could handle, and in my cowardice, I did turn and run.”
All he could do was view the shadow of her lost flame in the place of the Endless Night.
The future had died here long ago. Richard’s hope and joy both shared a similar fate.
He wondered this place for all eternity, reliving old memories to glean some insight,
He relived all of his past transgressions, and he learned lessons, but it was far too late.
For he knew in his dark heart that he would never escape….this place of Endless Night.
