BY ADWAITA DAS
Act One
Darkness is no devil.
And yet,
Again and again and again
And again
We use the word
Dark
to define evil,
to describe horror,
Compelled by the primitive fear
Of
The unknown,
Of
The other,
Propelled by the mortal terror
Of
Dying,
Branded by conditions of race
Embedded in metaphors
Of
Language.
And then we wonder why black lives
Are brutalised by hate.
Act Two
But how to give up this convenient
figure of speech?
Remember this:
Earth was lifeless burning lava,
Until the planet tilted, became
Blessed with shadowy diffusion,
And birthed
Living organisms.
Nonetheless,
People of all colours are heard brooding,
“Dark days…”
“Great darkness gathering…”
“Black magic…”
“Being black hearted…”
And then we ponder why black lives
Are butchered by hate.
Act Three
A scientific fact:
Ninety five percent of the known universe is
Black;
Dark energy
and
Dark matter.
The darkness is not demonic.
We are blind—
Us humans—
Obsessed with baryonic particles in our
Five percent
Range of sight.
“Let in the light.”
“Pure white light.”
“Go to the light.”
“Bright holy light.”
Remember the blaze of weaponised explosions,
The brilliance of wildfire devouring plantations.
Light—frequently—is also the destroyer of life.
Act Four
Black night is my awakening;
I seek
The Darkness Divine!
Act Five
Stop using
“Dark”
to mean evil.
Stop using
“Darkness”
to define death.
Let language evolve.
Let language express
The actual event:
“Hatred.”
“Cruelty.”
“Violence.”
“Ignorance.”
Call it
Fear.
Call it by its true name.
Not dark or darkness again.
Black is a colour of life.
Dark are the cosmic nuclei.
Act Six
Black is the cool balm
Of
Shade
In blistering day
Under tropical sun.
Dark is the soul—
conscious,
subconscious,
and unconscious—
Celestial gravitation
Reflecting
The infinite cosmos.
Black is the wave
Of
Rebellion.
Dark is the new light.
I celebrate
The Darkness Divine.
A note from the creator:
Being from India, as opposed to Caucasian countries, I have a completely different relationship with everything dark. Our climate, in particular, gave me an appreciation of a reverse nature: light burns; shadow heals. White can be illness and death, while black could be a blessing. The scorching summer makes me cry out aloud for deep dark rain clouds.
In my mother-tongue Bengali, the word for darkness, "andhakaar", literally translates to "blind-form.” Because it is we who are blind in the dark. When we condemn it, we automatically lament our own blindness, rather than give the colour of darkness a bad association.
In mythology, my favourite is Kali—the dark black Goddess who destroys monsters with mad savagery and protects us. The Darkness protects us! “Kalo” means “black” in Bengali; “Kali” is “blackness” or “ink.”
Perhaps it is time to de-associate words like darkness from evil. Perhaps it is time to open our minds and languages to the divinity of the dark black.
Adwaita Das is an author-artist-auteur from India, Planet Earth. She studied English literature & filmmaking; worked in theatre, news & advertising. Her art explores mindfulness. Her books 27 Stitches, Colours Of Shadow & Songs Of Sanity deal with the human psyche.