Ring of Light

Sometimes a vision comes to me,
Shining in the depths of night,
A glimpse of a tower by the sea,
Caught within a ring of light.

Its stones are deepest black,
Of basalt and of jet mined.
It shimmers with a curious lack
Of light in that ring so limned.

The stones around it glow
With a fierce and radiant white
Radiance like burning snow,
A vision of a ring of light.

And I know not what they mean,
If they keep the tower penned,
Keep something dangerous, unseen,
From bursting on the world again;

Or if they only honor the tower,
It being dark where they are bright,
But still a thing of beauty and power,
There within the ring of light.

The vision now often visits my dreams;
One day, I think, come dawn,
My parents, as the sunlight gleams,
Will wake to find me gone.

I must leave; I must soon go.
Before this dawn I take my flight,
To the tower in the ring aglow,
Dark within the ring of light.

I cannot be sure why it comes
To me, or what strange grace
I have. But last night, numb
In the tower, I saw a face.

Whether or not there is one
Who dwells within the night,
And waits for someone to come
Unto the ring of light;

Or whether it was deception
Played on my dreaming eyes,
That face was a reflection
Of the glory I see in sunrise.

I must find it; I must know
What destiny, or what fight
Waits within the stones aglow,
Waits for me in the ring of light.