Filling the Hollow Light

The Hollow Man, Britannia Mine, Sea to Sky Highway, British Columbia

I linger in my darkness
Sometimes seeking
Sometimes hiding
No matter

Some dark thing
From deep within
Rises
Opens up inside

Forcing me to choose
Retreat into the hollow light
Stay with the darkness
To learn its nature

Retreat leaves the dark thing
Lingering
Festering
Calling me back to darkness

So I urge myself to stay
Sit with the dark thing
Offer it kindness, compassion
Coax from it its truth

In that truth
Is the light
Which illumines darkness
And fills the hollow light

The Hollow Man
Britannia Mine
Sea to Sky Highway
British Columbia, Canada

Taken on location for The Magicians, Season 2, 2016

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1

Fh_NoeMorgan on Dec 23, 2017 at 2:20 am
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I’m curious about you, all of your posts have darkness. But good job. Nice one

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- 2
  
  Patrick Jennings on Dec 23, 2017 at 8:11 am
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  Thank you.
  
  <smile> Not all, but a lot. It comes and goes as a theme in my writing. And I can’t think of a post in which I write about darkness without also balancing it with the light, at least a small counter-balance. =)
  
  In my 40s I discovered a serious traumatic event in my very early childhood. On the one hand, no one really wants to go through such a discovery; it re-traumatizes us. On the other hand, it was a significant development in my healing: I finally had an explanation as to why I displayed so many symptoms of PTSD.
  
  In the darkness, I discovered a dark thing. In that dark thing, I found the light of insight, the light of healing, the light of loving self and compassion for self. The light of forgiving.
  
  Healing is an ongoing process. I struggle with it from time to time which means visits with the darkness, and the light it offers. Now is one of those times.
  
  I usually write in a stream-of-unconscious — or a stream of spirit ;). When I’m working on something (or need to work on something), this balance of darkness and the light often finds its way into words.
  
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  - 3
    
    Fh_NoeMorgan on Dec 26, 2017 at 12:28 am
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    Keep it up☺@Patrick Jennings
    
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    - 4
      
      Patrick Jennings on Dec 26, 2017 at 3:17 pm
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      <smile> Thank you for the encouragement. =)
      
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5

picpaintingbyartel on Dec 23, 2017 at 8:00 am
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Good job, very interesting.

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- 6
  
  Patrick Jennings on Dec 23, 2017 at 8:16 am
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  Thank you so much.
  
  My response to Fh_NoeMorgan offers some description of my personal relationship with darkness and the light. It may add a bit of insight into the poem. =)
  
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7

alessandria today on Dec 24, 2017 at 8:53 am
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Reblogged this on Alessandria today.

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8

joem18b on Mar 4, 2018 at 7:08 pm
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reading your responses to the comments above, i suddenly wondered how the lifelong blind respond to our thoughts on light and dark.

that’s quite a photo.

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- 9
  
  Patrick Jennings on Mar 4, 2018 at 7:41 pm
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  <smile> Interesting timing, as I just inverted light and dark in a little sci-fi poem, Never Night.
  
  I suppose for those who’ve never had sight, there is no darkness, there is no light. There is only what is. And just as we sighted cannot describe the experience of sight for them, they cannot describe the experience of unsighted for us.
  
  So I guess the unsighted have their own internal metaphors for the way we speak of darkness and light.
  
  Hmmmm… perhaps it’s time to read Helen Keller…
  
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  - 10
    
    joem18b on Mar 4, 2018 at 10:20 pm
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    i used to work with an unsighted fellow. if i do again, i’ll bring up the question. with keller we get the whole package, sight and sound.
    
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    - 11
      
      Patrick Jennings on Mar 4, 2018 at 10:51 pm
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      That’d be cool.
      
      Yep. Hers was a unique kind of sensory ‘darkness’.
      
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