A Poem before a story

So one of my longer brewing stories seems to be edging out the others for NaNo selection. I have the urge to begin writing it, but beginnings of stories are my least favorite. I always feel like they don't do the story enough justice. So instead I wrote a poem.

Her Choice

The blackest edge of night is nothing,
When compared with the sorrow of a heart.
One that was once bound completely to another,
One that carries unexpressed grief.

Standing alone on the desolate battle plain,
With a broken scythe in her bloodied hands;
She faces agony, defeat, death, and a choice.
A Black gate stands to her left, a Pearl Gate to her right.

The tie had been broken, though severed polietly
The darkness still looms around her
The cut is too deep, her soul bleeds out as tears
And it threatens to swallow her whole

Her choice seems unthinkable, unbearable to her
To continue forward alone without...
The whisper in her ear, the hand holding her back
Her protector had fallen away leaving her heart exposed.

Her blood boils with the injustice of it all,
And she knows her path is unfeeling.
Holding the broken blade in trembling hands
She turns tears to anger.

The love burns in her like fire,
But blocked by time and circumstance -
It fills her veins with gloom and ice
Turning maiden into warrior.


She will wield the scythe of death
Giving life to the sorrow that consumes her.
And she will become the great guardian
Of the now dying flame.

Unfolding black wings and steeling her hardened heart
She leaves the gentleness where she stood
Setting her mind and body to task
And returning a warrior to battle.


This poem is about my stories main character Chandra. It's a title-less story at the moment, and some of the details were co-authored over the years by friends of mine who dared to dabble in my crazy mind. She has been nagging at me recently, no doubt due to wanting her story shared.

My characters are like my friends, neglect them too long and they come crashing in. Chandra is no exception, and likely the noisiest of all the characters who have not had their stories put to paper. Chaos reigns when she is unhappy.

Now off to contemplate beginnings...