No One Can See Where There Is No Light
by Patsy Collins
You think I'm free, don't you? Because you saw me leave, you imagine I can stretch my wings and fly away from you. Stay away. You think you set me free - as though you had that power. You do have power. Not enough to keep me loving you and not enough to release me. But you could have.
You must find the power.
I did love you once and you loved me. We thought we had a future together. We have futures still, I suppose. There's more to come. It's not what you dreamed though. Not even in those dark dreams that made you moan and sweat 'til you woke and sat staring into the night. A blackness that wasn't as dark as what you'd seen. I thought then that you'd seen into my mind, but you couldn't have done. No one can see where there is no light.
Do you think of me and know I'm not really gone? Do you know that what you almost glimpse, almost recognise is not a shadow? It's the silhouette of our love. It's what remains when the love is gone. No love, but no release. No freedom. I'm bound to you until death do us part.
And you must set me free.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Get the winners of the first 12 Clarity of Night contests in one place! Extras too!!
Listening for the words in a quiet corner of the night. The fiction, poetry, and photography of Jason Evans.
About Me
- Aine
- Collaborator and night owl.
Past Contests
- "Elemental" Short Fiction Contest
- "Uncovered" Short Fiction Contest
- "Silhouette" Short Fiction Contest
- "In Vino Veritas" Short Fiction Contest
- "Ascension" Short Fiction Contest
- "Running Wind" Short Fiction Contest
- "Whispers" Short Fiction Contest
- "Restless Dawn" Short Fiction Contest
- "Halo" Short Fiction Contest
- "Endless Hour" Short Fiction Contest
- "Silent Grey" Short Fiction Contest
- "Lonely Moon" Short Fiction Contest (with Anne Frasier)
- "Midnight Road" Short Fiction Contest
- "Two Lights" Short Fiction Contest
The Official Compilation!
Get the winners of the first 12 Clarity of Night contests in one place! Extras too!!
Categories
- poetry (193)
- fiction (180)
- vignette (106)
- serial (59)
- lyrics (56)
- personal (52)
- insights (33)
- thoughts (31)
- cemetery (26)
- forest (17)
- nature (16)
- remembrance (16)
- writing (16)
- humor (15)
- beer philosophers (13)
- boating (10)
- experimental (8)
- movie (7)
- music (7)
- INTP (6)
- beatitudes (6)
- Ulrich (5)
- photography (5)
- Nami (4)
- night conversations (4)
- cemetery reflections (3)
- stream of consciousness (3)
- Clarity Notice (1)
- emotion study (1)
Visitors
~clausum~
33 comments:
I enjoyed reading this. bondage in love...nice.
Can be interpreted a number of ways, but desperation is an emotion we all, at some to or other, have or will experience. Well conveyed.
echo kashers. This is like the end of Meat Loaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light"--I'll never break my promise or forget my vow, but God only knows what I can do right now; I'm praying for the end of time, that's all that I can do... praying for the end of time so I can end my time with you."
OK, not exactly like that.
LOL, Pete. I love that song.
This is a very powerful piece. Well done. Off to read it again even though I'm far behind in my reading and commenting for today.
I am divorced and remember craving freedom by the end of the marriage. He was cold as ice.
Reads like a plea for murder - or an invocation for his suicide.
The plain, bleak and fundamental simplicity of the prose is a suitable enhancement of the theme.
Beware the power of that you cannot see. Ideals and ideas are constrict us tighter than any chain.
Thanks for all the comments. I agree that this can be read in several different ways. I intended the reader's own past would play a part in their understanding of this - didn't consider the lyrics to any Meat Lof songs though!
The scary, gothic aspects of the everyday. Good take on the pic.
I agree with Bernita's take that this is a plea either for the Narrator to be killed or for the lover to kill himself. Having left the awful relationship and still realising she is tethered to him emotionally she longs for those bonds to be severed by death.
I can't help but feel that she's fooling herself. If she truly wanted to let go she could.
Strong writing - vivid and emotional.
Great story. Really liked it. Loved the titled, also. That really drew me in.
Really great powerful writing here. Very emotional.
The thing I like about this is that it can be interpreted in so many ways. Makes one wonder and make up their own endings and beginnings.
And for a moment or more most of us have had this feeling of helplessness in life.
Powerful and emotional, compelling and engaging.
I like the way you cleverly left it up to us to draw our own conclusions. Great piece Patsy.
Wow. That was a voice that definitely came from the depths of an agonized soul. How stupid we are...deluding ourselves with flying aways and freedoms when we know that at times we just cannot tear ourselves away.
Sigh...
I loved this... totally.
Such sadness built into so few words!
Freedom/release can be both overrated and underrated. It's when you are in the middle, the lack thereof hurts the most!
Thanks everyone.
Yes Janey, if she really wanted to she could probably free herself.
Preeti, agony is character building.
Evocative. Deep. Shivery kind of. I love it.
very nicely done, patsy!
We have futures still, I suppose. There's more to come.
This is the hinge of the piece for me, the part that connects her (her? I read it as a her.) to a past she wants to leave and a future still tied to him. It's the ugly side of hope, the kind that makes you hold on to something toxic.
She has to let go of the future with him to get away from the past, I think.
Powerful words.
Thank you.
Yes, Laurel, I did imagine the narrator as female.
great piece and so refreshing after all of these same old same olds.
well done
The emotion in this piece is both subtle and powerful. A lot of layers. Great writing.
well done
gg
Very well written, as aways! Enjoyed, well done!
Thanks!
You did a good job working the title of the story into your flash; hell, I'd've flicked a switch and gotten it over with. Very heartfelt writing. --JR
i liked it!!!
Thank you.
"She has to let go of the future to be free of the past" is what I took away from this as well. Powerful title, and very well written!
Upon a second read, I'm reminded of Milan Kundera's "Unbearable Lightness of Being." This is heavy stuff here.
Post a Comment