The trials had taken toll… He hardened himself until his brittle mettle froze cold… No more.

Horrid clarity gave way to blind indifference as he began his self imposed eternal sentence. He was content to no longer know and all was lost…

Then the rains came. It was different this time as the first drop loosened and stung his soldered lids. Then another… and then another. His tear stained eyes were finally soaking up tiny sparks of hope and promise.

Could it be? Had the bloody tides finally begun receding back into the abys?

His eyes finally fluttered with slow life as his skin began to go soft… the once menacing dark storm now drenched his longing soul with sublime ecstasy as golden dawn rays freed him from his ancient destitution…

“Hope” ~ Statue bust in the enchanted forest of Santiago, Spain © 2010 Skip Hunt