Hope

When you
have been held
as tightly by illusion
as you have been
for so long,

tearing free
must leave behind
so much blood
you might
find yourself overcome
with longing

to turn back and dive in
to that red pool, one so deep
you can’t find a bottom
to touch and rebound up
to free air again;

but I beg you, do so:

bounce back up 
if you go back down,
break surface through 
your own lost blood and 
once the red has drained 
from your eyes
and you open them
in full spectrum light
you will see all of what’s here
as it should be seen, tinged
with what is natural,
inherent, normal — 

sooner or later 
your lost blood will refill
and you will keep it inside
where it belongs
and the old illusions
to which you were chained
will fade into a darkness
kept forever at bay
by the light into which
you’ve emerged.