I cannot see: A reflection

The potential in darkness, and the 3rd character

Spoken rendition of “I cannot see”.

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“I cannot see” began as a reflection on the beauty in darkness and the possibility of what surrounds when we reside there. Darkness typically represents danger and fear due to threat and the unknown, and while that metaphor can be real it is only one way to hold what it represents. Darkness holds potential for what could be and will be, offers a place for one to hide until they are ready to emerge, forces one to experience life through other heightened senses, and, when met by someone who exhibits care and compassion, allows a person to borrow another’s point of view, experience and faith.

The relationship is the third, independent character that lives in the space between the two. Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash

A tension emerged as this poem came to be, surrounding a relationship between two people who, while being located in the same geographic location, are having a different experience of life. While they are in the same time and place, their current personal circumstances have gifted each a way to see their future possibilities in a way very different from how the other sees their own. The relationship between these two people is not described, but just as any relationship is really a third member that has its own life, drama and beauty, the relationship between the two is the third character in this poem, and my hope is that one experiences that character as clearly as the two described through the written words.

As I wrote, I worked this poem in two formats. I initially wrote the first few drafts in two long paragraphs. The first paragraph was made up of each sentence that began with “I cannot see”, and the second was a longer version of the sentence “Now I search a future shrouded…”. There was something interesting about the long, seemingly run-on paragraph at the beginning, but something just did not feel finished with that structure. The second format is what you read today, a relatively long sentence for each stanza. I think the break between the stanzas is one of the places the relationship character emerges. Read carefully in those breaks.

There is beauty in being washed in light, and beauty in sitting silent in a season of dark.

Thank you for reading!

Brian

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If you missed the “A Poem” post of I cannot see, you can read it here!

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