I’m fed up with “dark” being equated with bad, and “light” with good. It just isn’t so. So I wrote this poem. It’s not about times of struggle between the light and the dark, with one being good and the other evil, but rather the struggle between evil – despair – apathy, AND courage – joy – healing. And the goodness found both in light and in dark is a dance with ribbons of light and dark that shelters, frees, that opens and embraces.
The poem “Dark-Light Times” is below, and is available as a PDF file with richer formatting.
These are dark times Times that repel light that swallow light that obscure the path that shelter the unknown that make us frightened. These are dark times Times of rich, deep, black soil where seeds thought dead begin to rise up where new seeds incubate in nurturing darkness, drinking in the power where courage embraces the unknown where we can be sheltered for a time. Glossy midnight black shining with stars These are light times of searing whiteness that blots out all other colors, blistering and scorching as it declares its power, that burns the emerging seeds and dries the soil These are light times Times that make us blink and refocus That open up our vision, that show us the young sprouts we thought lost. These are dark times. These are light times. These are twisted, convoluted, divisive, intertwined, germinating, opening, flickering shadow and sunlight times.
These words are not about times of struggle between the light and the dark, with one being good and the other evil, but rather the struggle between evil – despair – apathy, and courage – joy – healing. And the goodness found both in light and in dark is a dance with ribbons of light and dark that shelters, frees, that opens and embraces. I just simply got fed up with“dark” being equated with bad, and “light” with good. It just isn’t so.