Fujifilm X-T2, Landscape, wildlife
by Patrick Jennings

Naught but the Light

Black Kite over Red Fort, Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi, New Delhi, India III
In the darkness
Lay the deepest shadows
Where no light has fallen
For so many years

I visit with them
Let the shadows
Fall under my light
Until they become known to me

Appreciate them for their wisdom
Thank them for their insight
Forgive them for their fears and distractions

Illumined, I see their purpose

I sense the presence
Of something darker
Utter black
No light illumines

It lingers
Unperturbed
By my shadow hunting
And I feel the fear

Deeply

Again

Close my eyes
Breathe
Feel my body
Call the light

Sense beyond seeing
Insight beyond knowledge

I let the blackness breathe
Listen for the whispers on its breath
Stay alert for the tremble of its presence

Until I see
Into the cold dark center
Of the evil I have conquered

Bid it farewell
Thank it for its lessons
Forgive it for its transgressions
Banish it from my being

Be gone!

Release the blackness
Into the light
Where it dissipates

Into shadow
Into mist
Into oblivion
Into a nothingness
Beyond my being

I am left
With naught
But the light

The source of all things
The destiny of all things
The heart of all things

Which the blackness
Cannot
Touch

Black Kite over Red Fort
Chandni Chowk
Old Delhi
New Delhi, Inda

Taken during travels, 2017

This image was a late addition to my solo gallery exhibit, Harmony in Word and Form, now showing at Gallery Bistro in Port Moody, BC, Canada. Printed on the lushly rich Canson Arches Aquarelle watercolour paper, which artfully rendered the rich shading of tone and shadow. It’s a magnificent print, accompanied in the show by the poems Black Kite and The Space Between.