Sacrifice

by Diamond Approach student Richard Wehrman

The direction seemed to lead
either toward the fear, external
and increasing, and by involvement
with the outer only add to what
grew larger on its own—or follow
the path inward and down, in
what looked like retreat and  
withdrawal, but by all he had so
far come to trust, knew was the  
territory of the real, of the true,
though it offered no apparent
reprieve, or solution to the chaos
that was forming outward and  
above. The old voices spoke  
behind him, of responsibility, of
valor, of sacrifice—and they had
a partial truthfulness that pulled;
yet all they asked were bodies for
their funeral pyres, and in this he
felt no honor, only the obligation of
the herd, to offer himself up in
sacrifice; and so he chose inward
and downward, through veils and
darknesses, without any clear  
reason why other than allegiance
to a scent, a sense, of something he
once called soul, or spirit, or the
guidance of an angel, but now he
followed only for its light.