From Chambers Dim with Fading Light

From chambers dim with fading light
Where shadows braid with grace,
I lift my gaze against the night
And meet it face to face.

For though my limbs are cold with fear
And breath grows thin and slow,
A fiercer spark keeps vigil here—
A warmth no frost can know.

If fate would claim my trembling frame
Or bid my pulse to cease,
Then let it come without its shame
And find me still at peace.

Yet should the dawn, in mercy mild,
Return me to the day,
I’ll rise as though a ghost turned child
And greet it come what may.

For neither death nor life’s delight
Can strip from me the will
To thread my soul through failing night
And hold my vigil still.

So witness, world, however brief,
These final acts I prove—
A tether worn by ache and grief,
Yet strengthened still by love.