Darkness You Deny Poem by Joanne Teague

This ray of light your seeing's
a spotlight that's deceiving
you into thinking
there's no
darkness
here.

You've built a wall,
like any army,
to keep out the alarming
greyer truths
that you don't want to hear.

(But I can't get by living lies)

I can't pretend that there's no shadow,
or empty things aren't hollow
(even though non-substance's what I like)
or that, to every story,
there's no other side.

I can't get by living lies.

After all,
what is darkness,
if undefined by light?
Or love,
unless it towers
above the pits of the despised?
It's something you deny.
But I
can't get by
living lies.