I spent most of Saturday (27 July) chilling and streaming—rewatching episodes of New Amsterdam being my viewing of choice.
At some point in the day, something (yet to pinpoint exactly what) prompted this thought:
‘Don’t let them rob your light.’
J M Whyne, 27 July 2024
I made a mental note (without any plan to come back to it) and continued chilling.
However, the line wouldn’t leave my thoughts. To the extent that in the late hours of the night, I decided I’d have to try and write something and also posted it as a creative prompt.*
What words, images, feelings, sounds etc. come to mind when you read or say,"Don’t let them rob your light."?
So what did I write?
It took me till Sunday to bring my words to a full stop. This doesn’t mean that it couldn’t have gone further or had another edit.
It means I had reached a point where it felt it was resolved enough to put the pen down. The original line was no longer on a loop in my head.
– J M Whyne, July 2024
Fun Fact: Humans Do Actually Glow
While writing any piece of poetry, there will usually be a point when I search the web to see if a line/statement/concept I am using stacks up.
Or, particularly in the case of idioms or well-known sayings, the origin of them. We can be so used to using these as part of our everyday parlance, without knowing the original meanings and context
A Google search for
Do humans emit light?
led me to a National Geographic article, which was cited in a number of the other search results that came up.
Content from this article affirmed and informed a portion of the poem. I’ll use that portion to wrap up this post.
Don’t let them rob your light.
From the miracle of your birth, to you still inhabiting this earth, the light that you carry continues to glow.
However imperceptible to the human eye, it is a part of your being and for as long as you are here, it cannot be extinguished.
J M Whyne, 28 July 2024 (excerpt of full piece)
*My description of Creative Prompts, “Creative prompts, be they word, image, colour etc., are just optional starters. They can be useful for jumpstarting your thoughts and getting your creativity flowing.
You don’t have to use the exact word, image etc in what you create. you can just write, draw… around it/the general theme and see where it leads you.”