Sonnet: Gaining Silence, Dimming Light
by John Kendall Hawkins
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First there was terra nullius, then back
they came for tabla rasa, then they came
for empty conscience and null consciousness,
until there was nothing, not even chess
between Black and White; there was no more blame;
we simultaneously heard the crack.
My love comes to me in votive candles
that whisper, small tongues of fire wavering,
silent as stained glass secrets of the soul,
unbodied language of tales never told,
infinity lost in the quavering
light of remembrance lit by sad vandals.
Lost, somewhere between beauty and terror,
building cathedrals to human error.
