Within

There is a place of darkness dreary

Where I wander, weak and weary,

Desperate for someplace to lay my head.

Yet all around is naught but mire,

And of the stench and filth I tire,

Left in fear, lament, and anxious dread.

Horror lurks ‘round every bend,

Things with teeth set bared to rend

The very flesh from off my quaking bones.

Their roaring splits the endless night

And fills me with an awful fright

The likes of which I scarce have ever known.

And still I wander ever on,

Anguished for the absent dawn,

And for the blessed rest it shall impart.

Alas! This place I recognize!

I see it now through opened eyes —

’tis my very own accursed heart!

O darkness, death, and wretched sin!

These monsters do arise within

And issue forth from mine own vile soul!

Yet there is One who searches there

With torch so brilliant, bright and fair

The darkness flees and morning bells doth toll.

He leads me through the desert waste

And where He walks, imparts a taste

Of glories great and stunning yet to come!

With Him I fear no beast within,

No tempter, nor the pow’r of sin,

For at His side my foes shall come undone. 

And on the Day when faith is sight

No more shall be this inward fight

For by His blood the vict’ry has been won!