Living with the Truth Stranger than Fiction This Is Not About What You Think Milligan and Murphy Making Sense

Sunday 6 August 2017

#751



The Dawning



(for Cilla)

Albeit far away I still sense you –
a silent warmth that stirs me to life –
I know you're behind me and it's time.

The shadows of my past stretch before me.
Should I turn around they'll still be there –
I know that – but ask me; say the words.

Light blinds us but by light we both see and live.

Shine on, my love.

Shine on.


26 October 1994
 


Many years before I wrote this I wrote a poem called ‘The Eyes of the Blind are Upon You’ (#476) which opens with the following stanza:
It's not the dark
that fills you with fear,
but the light,
for the light makes you blind,
and therein lies the real fear.
It’s not a very good poem but I’ve never been able to shift this image from my head: it’s all to do with perspective; light can illuminate or it can blind; it all depends on where you’re standing. ‘The Dawning’ is not a good poem either. Maybe one day I’ll find the words to do the idea justice. Or maybe Goethe said it best and I should leave well alone: “Truth is a torch but a tremendous one. That is why we hurry past it, shielding our eyes, indeed, in fear of getting burned.”

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