Winter Farm … Ink – WHB – Feb.2017
The DARK and the LIGHT
Wintertime
today
I found myself
following a blind man
with a stick
this morning
in the shopping mall
he bumped into a white fence
surrounding a display
He stumbled
muttering to me
as I asked if I could help
“I can see a black line
but I can’t see a white fence
why do they
make these fences white?”
A blind man
fearing white
desiring the dark
Shopping Mall, Surrey … Photo -WHB Feb.2017
Wintertime
snowtime
and out in the fields
if it is not white
it is black
silhouettes are for the winter
as well as the twilight
black against the white
darkness loses silhouettes
As the snow settled
I wondered
could I see white
or could I see only the black
the black giving definition
white reduced
to filling the spaces in between
not colourless
devoid of colour
contrast emphasised
no subtlety
but strength
black has become the positive
black bringing context
and meaning
against the white backdrop
As with the blind man
it is possible
for the darkness
of winter
to bring
conviction
certitude
and hope.
Roland's Ragbag 
Wonderful, Roland–the use of black and white and how they reverse their familiar meanings. I love also how you compared snow and the darkness of winter to the black and white of what the blind man could or couldn’t see. Lovely.
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Thank you so much, Laura, for your warm comments. I do appreciate you taking the time to respond.
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This is so thought provoking Roland. It brings to mind, do we see what we really see and can we adapt if our surroundings change. It will have me thinking all week.
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Thank you Davy, for your sensitive comments.
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Color photography and the ubiquitous digital camera have persuaded us to forget the stark simplicities of black and white. You capture them very nicely in this poem. I love the painting, incidentally. Thank you for steering me this way.
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… and thank you, Roger.
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