Am I obligated to refer to darkness as "it" in this sentence?

So I was writing a little something and I thought of this sentence: "In darkness, I found a friend, and she held my hand." At first, I referred to darkness as "it", but it felt like it didn't deliver the meaning quite well. But then again, English isn't my first language and I could be wrong. Which do you think sounds better? And is my sentence grammatically correct?

Solution 1:

The only persons whos thoughts matter are your own. For my own opinion, this phrase is incredibly beautiful as is. Write it as you originally meant it. I have always thought of darkness as a 'he', but thats me.

Solution 2:

No you are not.

In darkness, I found a friend, and she held my hand.

As all commenters said, it is a good sentence just as it is.