"Who’s there?" he said.

"Despair" was the answer.

"Go away, I don’t want you."

"Want is not what calls me. Loss calls me."

"I haven’t lost anything."

"Yes, you have."

"What, then?"

"Your Faith."

"I’ve had little enough of that, its loss is not noticed."

"No matter, Faith is Faith, however small, however tenuous. Having none invites Despair, and here I am."

"What would you know of my Faith?"

"I know there was a slight glimmering piece of it, and you kept it alight, purposefully. I do not see it anymore."

"Faith did me no good."

"Nor shall I."

"Leave me."

"Tell me what kept you in Faith, and what was it that extinguished it."

"Only a dream, something existing in my heart, little reality to it."

"Yes, Faith is in the heart. A weak place. I shall be in every part of you. What was your dream?"

"Go away, I’m tired of you."

"What happened to your dream?"

"I was awakened, I learned it was just a dream. That’s all."

"Dreams are real, they are not in this world, but they are real. You gave up too easily, perhaps."

"Do you try to find my Faith again, for me?"

"I have seen some who suffer terribly, and they keep Faith alive, some of them will never have me with them."

"I’ve lost much."

"I know that there are ones who look to you, and Love you, even."

"Don’t speak of Love to me."

"You are not even alone."

"I am alone."

"No, you are held in the hearts of others. They have no place for me as you do."

"I know."

"This is not enough to keep Faith? Many others have far less."

"I know this, too."

"I cannot enter."

"What do you mean?"

"I was wrong. There is still Faith. Its there, weaker still, but it is not gone."

"It is dying."

"Perhaps, but it is not gone yet, and I can only wait. I see now, the place you keep it, hidden, but still held. You do not wish to lose it."

"No, I wish it could grow, and fill me."

"You cling to something still."

"Yes."

"You Love, that is what you cling to. Love does not exist without Faith."

"I know this. The Love is so painful, it is so consuming, it is so far away and so near, it is everything, sometimes; it is all that there is, it is so sweet, so passionate. Living it wears me so, I can’t stop Loving, I can’t let go, I can’t imagine a world without it; . . . I can’t give up yet."

"I am leaving. But I shall not be far."