Remember

 ‘Remember in the dark what you learned in the light’

 

Darkness folds in and smothers hope:
directions disintegrate,
perspectives perversely shift,
space spins,
thought telescopes
character crumbles.

The fish limp in poacher’s bag,
gagged hostage, foetal-folded,
bundled in the boot;
the scanned patient stripped and still,
torn between truth and mercy;
the unsleeping sleeper staring
at the unfriendly ceiling.

When nothing can be seen,
but fears dance like shadows at the stairs’ turn,
when action melts into gearless stare
and plans dissolve into passivity.

Now is the time:
when there is no looking forward
and the present is ominously stalled.

Now is the time to look back:
to remember daylight,
shafts of light casting clear shadows,
sparkles of sun lighting dark textures,
the search of memory bringing echoes of faithfulness,
of wisdom explored,
promises kept,
love’s embrace.

To remember the light
and wait for the light;
when pathos becomes patience,
when terror becomes trust,
when darkness dazzles with wonder and grace.

                                                               Christopher Ellis

Photograph: Sunset in West Bridgford 15.1.12