Crusade

This one has been stewing for a few hours now. It think I'm happy with it, and it's dedicated to anyone that's had to stiffen their upper lip.

*****

I have another shadow that no one wants to see.
It hides inside the darkness, just waiting there for me
to lower my guard and take down my wall,
that it may trip me up, make me stumble. Fall.
Speaking to me inside dream and nightmare
asking dark questions  and laying me bare,
this shadow is tenacious and attacks all my sense.
The burden it casts upon me is immense.
An angel took my hand, a lovely bringer of the light
But her wings, they were not strong enough, and she could not take flight.
"I'm sorry," she said, fleeing, and left me alone
to battle the shadow, once more, on my own.
"No matter," I said, as I willed myself strong.
"I could use the mental workout. It's been my fight all along."
The war has always been there, with its clamor and din.
It's been raging for ages, and it's one I will win.