Poem About Light

by Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno


You can try to strangle light:
use your hands and think
you've found the throat of it,
but you haven't.
You could use a rope or a garrote
or a telephone cord,
but the light, amorphous, implacable,
will make a fool of you in the end.

You could make it your mission
to shut it out forever,
to crouch in the dark,
the blinds pulled tight—

still, in the morning,
a gleaming little ray will betray you, poking
its optimistic finger
through a corner of the blind,
and then more light,
clever, nervy, impossible,
spilling out from the crevices
warming the shade.

This is the stubborn sun,
choosing to rise,
like it did yesterday,
like it will tomorrow.
You have nothing to do with it.
The sun makes its own history;
light has its way.

Comments

  1. I'm thankful the sun is so persistent.

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  2. "..Light has its way" Powerful thing, light, cannot be ignored.

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  3. Beautiful images. De-light-ful.

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  4. Wonderful poem and I love how true it is :-).

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  5. Interesting poem - gives a whole new meaning to "kill the lights".

    Kat

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  6. Praise be for the light; so far, man hasn't learned to switch it off for good, let's hope that is how it will remain.

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  7. And in just 21 days, we'll have more more light than dark!

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  8. Making me glad, that it is only one sun, we are all looking upon, regardless where on earth we are. Sometimes making your morning bright, while being close to finish my afternoon.

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  9. Hi there, ATOM, it took Karen Schlesinger's nudge to make me realize that you have honoured me with the "Friendly Blogger Award", now, oh, weeks ago.
    I did notice at the time that you were dishing out awards but it never crossed my mind that I would be one of the lucky recipients. You have this huge blog, well established, with crowds of followers, whereas I am still paddling in the blogging shallows.

    So thanks and greetings. May the blogosphere flourish and continue to keep bloggers on friendly terms with each other. At least we are not fighting each other!

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  10. I LOVE this poem! It's so inspiring...

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  11. I think she wanted to rest in the dark for awhile...I sense a resigned frustration...I love that photo...the dapple effect characterizes the words in the poem perfectly. :)

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  12. hi, i am really interested in this peom and wondered if the author is representing light as truth. This would make sence as the lines excaping th light and light reveals things..a connataion of truth maybe. But what does the sun represent? SO just wondering if this poem is about truth.

    cheers

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Hey, thanks for your thoughts and your time:>)

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