shed light, a poem

“No one can shed light on vices he does not have or affliction he has never experienced.” – Juan de Mairena
shed light
shed light

Her fever had been a concern for all
but it was not until the third day
that she had begun to shed light;
during the day
it was only the faintest glow under a shady tree
and you really couldn’t see it in the sunlight
but at night when the lamps were off
she had begun to ignite the entire room into a pale faery fire
and even after the fever had finally been broken
this continued for several weeks
much to the delight of her younger sisters.

by matt at shadow of iris


Read another poem of light and shadow:
lightproof, a poem

Thank you for reading, shed light.


“I have just come down from my father.
Higher and higher he lies
Above me in a blue light
Shed by a tinted window.”
- James Dickey

“A lost but happy dream may shed its light upon our waking hours, and the whole day may be infected with the gloom of a dreary or sorrowful one; yet of neither may we be able to recover a trace.” – Walter de La Mare

“And when upon his pillow laid,
the friendly Urisk, by his bed
Hovered, inspiring dreams as bright,
As e’er on sleeper’s mind shed light, –
Of love’s and glory’s fulles stream
Through a long future poured for him.”
William Bennet

shed light

summer snow

A slowly spreading plume
volcanic ash
stranding tens of thousands
little nobodies
here and there
lost.

Centers of command
shut down
as small children stare up
at the sky in awe
having never seen
nor heard of
summer snow.

– matt at shadow of iris
summer_snow

murmurs and shrapnel viii

What difference
does it make
to the dead
the orphans
and the homeless
whether the mad destruction
is wrought under the name
of totalitarianism
or the holy name of liberty
or democracy?

A hopeful time
as we celebrate
the end of one year.

A special envoy finds
mounting children deaths
victims of nighttime actions
yielding lethal outcomes.

The end of one year
the beginning of another
a difficult time for many
yet look back with the knowledge
that brighter days are ahead of us.

The military insists
the victims were armed militants
but initial investigations say
eight were enrolled in local schools.

The challenges are great
each of us has the courage
and determination
to rise up
and meet them.

An explosion in the city district
of bad Dad
wounded scores of children
and killed at least one
conflicting theories
about the explosion’s cause
leaves local security officials
suggesting an errant rocket.

In the spirt
that has kept the dream
alive for generations
that same spirit
will keep it alive
for even more generations.

One is left
with the horrible feeling
that war settles nothing
that to win a war
is as disastrous
as to lose one.

– matt at shadow of iris

[The first verse is a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, the last verse is a quote from Agatha Christie, the rest of the italics are from recent news altered slightly, and the bold is mostly the u.s. president's new year remarks, altered slightly.]

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