I do not fear pain or suffering. I fear no mortal ache or woe. For all such things inevitably pass with time. I fear no dark thought or failed hope. For in my hands, my mind and my will lies the power to shape my path.

I fear only the void of unfeeling. I fear that dark shroud of despair that squelches the soul, binds the hands and smothers the heart. To sit motionless as time and life slips by as the slithering of some spectral serpent till the bite of death ends all further hope.

For while I stand and draw breath, while my hands may yet grasp and my mind sill function, while life yet remains, hope will never die.