Deep within the brightest people

Amongst our discarded memories

Rolling beneath the thunderous clouds

Kept with secrets never told

Nerves frayed by hurtful words

Every other heartbeat

Souls frozen in old photos

Some of the places where... you know

Light

undresses darkness;

leaves

the sinful

clothed in shame:

velvet-shaded

canvas,

bleached

with

Morning’s

sword of flame.

Truth

unveils the wicked

cloaked in garments

of deceit;

lies,

left bare and naked,

solar bathing

in

Hell’s heat.

stare into a flame -

a match, a candle

a campfire -

admire

the light,

the shifting shades

of white

yellow

red

orange

the promise of

heat that

warms

or burns;

stare into the flame,

see

that at its center

lives the darkness:

it does not hide -

rather,

light is born

from darkness,

burns bright

then flickers

and fizzles

yielding

once again

to

oblivion.

YOU KNOW THE SAYING, the best place to hide a secret is right in front of somebody. The darkness isn't in the shadows buried where nobody can discover it. The darkness is plastered all over your face, your body, your lips and your tongue. It is so woven into the tar that spills from your mouth that no one can tell. No one can see what's right before their eyes. Darkness doesn't cower and hide, you don't wear it in your eyes and your clothes. Deep emptiness wears you, takes the reigns on how you move, and turns you into darkness itself. No one will find it if they're searching deep within the soul, but rather, right on the surface, on your screaming skin and in your dying hair.

''Remind me where the darkness hides,'' I murmured, sounding like a sleepy child as I shuffled closer to him as we sat on the picnic blanket.

He sighed and glanced at me with a crooked smile.

His eyes were shining, glowing, reflecting all light.

''Really?'' He asked, sounding surprised.

''It's a good story - very poetic.'' I say, pinching him and smiling wickedly.

''Fine,''

He looked up at the stars, looking like a curious child.

''They say...'' he starts.

''They say that the darkness hides everywhere.

In our minds, smiles, bodies.

Our beings.

It's everywhere.

But it is said to disappear for a few moments when someone is really, truly, happy.

When that person feels like they are glowing,

floating,

really living.''

I smiled and as I did so, I imagined the darkness disappearing.

I imagined the darkness disappearing as I sat here with him.

10.6.2020

They say the darkness hides between the stars at night,

And it's what you see when you shut your eyes tight.

It's hidden in the wild fear that drives you mad

And in the desolate emptiness that leaves you desperately sad.

They say darkness hides in the monsters under the bed

And in the thoughts you can't get out of your head.

But truly you need the darkness that is hidden inside

the cracks of your heart, it keeps you looking for light.

Darkness is everywhere. It hides on the rim of light. It lurks in hearts. But for most people, it lurks in their brain in the form of jealousy, fear, etc. Everybody has faced fear. Fear can be good. An alert. Sometimes, though, it's not good. Darkness hides where it seems to be light, but, or as I said before, "on the rim of light".

Darkness lies where light isn’t. Darkness isn’t really a form of matter or energy like light. Darkness is only a word describing the absence of light.

In a way this could apply to people’s hearts as well. The dark parts of us are the parts of us the light in our lives can’t normally reach, hiding in the nooks and crannies of our hearts. Other people often only see the lighter sides of us with the dark parts being visible to those who dig a little deeper.