When the veil of darkness has draped itself around your life
and concealed the tears of your pain and despair,
when the destiny you had envisaged has all
but faded like water amongst the golden sands of the desert,
when you stand alone in your hour of adversity
and need and no-one is willing to stand beside you,
when the battles within your life are on the verge of defeat and ruin,
when you are in exile within your own mind,
when your heart is empty and is merely watered
by the tears of your agonized and anguished soul.



When you feel like a bird caged behind bars
which once flew high above snow capped mountains free and unhindered
and now reach out to touch the essence of your dreams,
when tears and sorrow have embraced your soul,
when the temples of your dreams lie in ashes
like the ruins of an ancient age gone by
and there are no traces of your footsteps within the valley of your dreams.


When the haunting silence of the darkness
hangs like a shadow within the depths of your heart.
When you cling like a child to the dreams of yesterday,
when the light of dawn refuses to appear and the sun refuses to shine,
when each day has become an eternal struggle to survive.


When there is no light amongst the darkness within your existence,
when your wounds cry out to be healed,
when fear has held courage ransom,
when your soul stands in solitude and loneliness
choking on its tears of isolation under a moon
which no longer smiles and no longer yearns to gaze at his children;
the stars, when all those around you have betrayed you,
when love has left your heart and refuses to return.


When you no longer believe in yourself,
when pain and grief are your constant companions,
when there is no vision within the mists of your agony,
when no one is willing to listen to and understand you,
when peace seems to be in a distant world,
when life no longer has the belief to run within your veins,
when you have become a fugitive within your own mind
and shackled like a slave within your own insanity,
refuse with every last drop of sacred blood within your bruised and battered body,
to surrender your soul to the pains of your existence.


You must believe in yourself-even if all those around you doubt you
and in your ability to rise from within the insanity
in which your life now finds itself
and to stand tall against the obstacles and challenges
within your life-and you will conquer
all that you believe cannot be conquered
and all that which you believed you had lost within your life.


It is from the darkest hours of our lives,
from the depths of our despair and pain
and in our greatest hour of adversity that we find an inner strength,
an inner courage and an inner meaning so vast that it enables us to rise from our knees and stand tall and fight that which has made us weak.


Just as water runs from a stream,
as the oak tree grows strong and upright,
as snow-the softest and most peaceful of natures elements-covers
the most fierce of mountains and tames its anger
portraying it merely as a pawn within the hands of nature
so new life and meaning will emerge from your own inner source.