“To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,”
Wendell Berry
1.
some nights late
in the dirt road quiet,
darkness leaning close
like trees along the way
alive alive
with warm air touching skin
touching road touching feet.
ahead behind
within and out of reach
fire flies make the world anew,
a slow dancing pulse of light –
leaf
trunk
hand
sky
pulled from the darkness
and then returned
returned
2.
now our children
learn the songs of war
learn that fear speaks prophetic
when given a voice unchecked.
3.
and what is to be said
of this dark that comes –
has been coming
since before and before
has been creeping convoy
64km long for millennia –
and what if we think
the dark that comes
is not ours to own
that darkness is not
ensouled
by us all
do we turn our backs on it –
wait for the light.
and what if the light
that shines bright flash
rocket strike in the night,
what if that light that comes
is ours too.
and can we step out into this dark drizzle night
walk the starless paths between seasons and
know what has been and what is to come
is nothing to this rain blissed soft walking of now –
nothing to this communion of breath
in the long dark of this now.
4.
hearts break
and break again
are crushed heavy handed
with the weight of our ways
shattered merciless
by our own broken living
of the world
break
break open to the night
and the sky and the light
and the shadow
and the light.
5.
held held held
by the quiet
of dark earth
knowing not knowing
the rising suns
and moons that pass,
the way the rich dark
embraces
the silent swelling of seasons
and the wait
and the longing
until the bud
breaches the bulb,
names the season –
brings forth the light.
For Sherry at Earthweal’s weekly challenge: wild hearts can’t be broken
https://earthweal.com/2022/02/28/earthweal-weekly-challenge-wild-hearts-cant-be-broken/
But also strongly influenced by Brendan’s essay for the Dark fire weekly challenge which I have been sitting with for a few weeks. Read it here
https://earthweal.com/2022/02/14/earthweal-weekly-challnge-the-wild-dark-noir-fire/
with thanks to both.
fresh poetry 
Oh Lindi, thank you for this beauty of a poem, brought forth straight from your wild-attuned heart. I love, first, the fireflies , “a slow dancing pulse of light,” and the descent, down the page, to the fear of that long convoy……….then the relief of being held by the earth, (I feel the comfort, the healing), until that budding into light. Bless you. This poem is kintsugi to my heart.
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Thank you Sherry for your kind words. love and strength to you. x
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I could not enjoy the poem with my eyes resting on the page, with the words and the meanings, because of the multiple flashing tumblr advertisements that could not be turned off.
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I am sorry you experience the site that way and I will attempt to take it up with wordpress. Unfortunately it is a free site – I am aware they use advertising but cannot see what advertisements are used on my site. I do not earn or gain anything from any advertising. Thanks for the feedback.
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Light and dark…opposite and the same. I love the final image of light emerging from dark. The wheel turns. (K)
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To know the dark, sing darkly, behold it and be held by it and be nourished by what we don’t, can’t, will never know. Another dark encircles this, like a convoy from human time, the darkness of human minds, an unknowable malice: that too is in this night’s moment, as well as too much of the light we have destroyed the world with. But dark fire, that is of a heart we must trust and find in poems like this, where darkness is found and loved and discerned by its night-blooming angels. Amen Lindi.
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These are terrible times. The situation in the Ukraine tears at the hearts of us all. I just hope the world wakes up and gets rid of all forms of nuclear energy as a result.
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Yes. That we as a species still have territorial disputes with the capacity to annihilate ourselves is just mind boggling. Love and strength to you Suzanne. 🌳
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It’s absolutely horrible, I agree. Love and strength to you too. (my novel should be up late next week – I went for a simple title in the end – ‘The Journey’. 🙂
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Exciting. May it reach the hearts that need it. 💚
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You have summed up many of my thoughts, fears and feelings here, Lindi, and yet still somehow managed to offer some hope: thank you!
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Thanks Ingrid. 🌿
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