When the Lights Went Out

Cherry

By Silver Spun Sand

Wed, 06 Aug 2014
  • 2328 reads
10 comments
 
In the grand scheme of things
our loss was nothing, nothing at all;
 
Hiroshima – the Japanese earthquake,
the floods – the  tidal waves – 
the Great War...
 
Aware of that, as we are, what is gone
cannot have failed to alter us, irrevocably, 
and if it has taught us anything
 
it is that there is no way of measuring love, 
and, when a light goes out, it is darker than
if that light had never shone.
Certificate PG
Poem
Silver Spun Sand Poems
Spiritual

Comments

Submitted by Bee on

All those other things might be huge, but each of the lives lost was a single light of equal value gone out. Tina, your words of the last three lines are stunning in their truth and so beautiful. I was moved to tears reading this. 

 

Bee

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Thank you, Bee.  So pleased you thought so.

Tina

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

A poem that sent shivers through me,  especially that last stanza which started me welling up.

You said it all in this poem Tina,  and touched a part of me deeply.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Hi there, Jenny.  Your words said it all, and I thank you for them.

Tina

 

Submitted by lenchenelf on

...and well written. Lena xxxx

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Much appreciated, Lena.  I hope things are well with you.

Tina xxxx

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Tina, I've been musing on this for a while, and keep coming back to the line
'cannot have failed to alter us' and the line 'when a light goes out, it is darker than if that light had never shone.'

and I keep thinking that I know what you mean, but though it seems darker, especially at first, surely the experience of the light if it has had such an effect, means that in fact it is not truly darker than had it not been.? Now i've got myself in a real tangle, but maybe you can make head or tail of it.
regards, Rhiannon
 

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Rhiannon, as ever, thank you for your thoughts.

I think I know what you mean, toosmiley.   Difficult to verbalise as it is, the words of that old song, 'Yellow Taxi'  by Carly Simon, keep coming into my head, 'You don't know what you've got till it's gone'.  True enough, I guesssmiley

Have a pleasant Friday, Rhiannon, and thanks again.

Tina

 

Submitted by blackjack-davey on

 

The lights going out seems to suggest a sliding scale from war and awful disasters to the snuffing out of a single candle, and in our humanity we will always be touched by that candle rather than the big power cut.

A great last verse and a painful truth-- certain people become clearer when they're not here.It is darker without those individuals or it might be they made things lighter and when they go we lose the adrenalin and fizz of their individuality, we experience meaninglessness anew

 

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

...in a nutshell.  I thank you for your wisdom.

Tina