Darkness came first: The Void.
All the old stories tell us this.
The blackness of space, of ocean depths,
Of the inside of Earth and stone.
The Beginning
The compressed creative energy of the entire cosmos,
Not yet aware of itself;
Not yet expressed in expansion,
Differentiation, diffusion, dissolution….
It all came from darkness.
Without darkness, how does one see the light?
We all began in darkness,
Deep within the maternal depths of our mothers.
Darkness nurtures and protects.
Darkness envelopes and comforts,
It soothes us to rest;
Cloaks us,
When we wish to disappear in the crowd.
Ebony, obsidian, schorl, onyx:
Black crystalline beauty.
From coal comes diamond,
Like tiny quartz crystals growing
In the darkness of a geode.
Like suns and worlds growing and spinning
In the darkness of space.
Like pinpricks of light
Dancing behind closed eyelids.
As light radiates, so black absorbs.
The conversation of energy
bantering back and forth as light and heat.
Bringing balance.
Giving life.
The pigments of all things
mixing back into inky blackness.
The return.
Spent life composted back
Into the soil of potentiality.
Without black, crumbly Earth,
How does one grow a garden?
Or a life?
Words and Photos by Woodland Gnome, 2014
With Appreciation to Jennifer Nichole Wells
For hosting the Weekly One Word Photo Challenge
Forest Garden 
You’ve made darkness beautiful! Lovely poem and images, WG. 🙂
Thank you, Robin 😉
Hey there!! Been missing in action a couple days, trying to catch up. Your pictures are beautiful, love the water scene photo! Got cold here again, had freezing rain on the trees but not on roads the last couple days 😦
Hope you guys are doing ok!!
Been missing you. Hope all is well. Too cold with the wind today to be outside for long. Thank you for the kind words on the photos. I’m ready to take a steady diet of flower and foliage photos again. Enough bare trees already! Glad your roads stayed clear. We had snow most of yesterday afternoon and evening, but nothing stuck to the ground. We’re staying busy. Glad to see you finally got out for that hike! Best wishes, WG
I absolutely love these and the accompanying words. Beautiful with such emotion. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you, Jennifer 😉
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What a lovely poem! I love how you’ve captured so many qualities of the color black with your words and lens. And is that a hellebore I spy? Blessings to you and I hope you stayed safe and warm from the weather today. Did you get any of the snow headed for the mid-Atlantic? Sarah
Sarah, you found the hellebore! I thought of you when I used that photo. Thank you for your kind words on the post. It is snowing again, and the wind is ringing the wind chimes around the house. We’ve had snow off and on all afternoon and evening, but it isn’t sticking. It is still above freezing here close to the ground. To our north I’m sure its a different story. A good day for baking bread and making soup. I hope you’re warm tonight and doing something interesting. Blessings and our best wishes to you, WG
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