Light and Shadow
By ralst
Patterns of light and shadow. That's all it was really, patterns and images in the air. Life was like that; a collection of barely discernible phantoms flitting across your consciousness before disappearing into a tomorrow that never comes. Light and shadow, real and imaginary, true and false. It was unrelenting and never ending. Even death couldn't dissuade the vagaries of being.
For me, she had become the light, brightening my existence and bathing in my shade. I revelled in her, soaking up her warmth and growing strong from her love. I should have known it wouldn't last, couldn't last. You cannot take without giving. You cannot bask in radiance without offering your own light as recompense.
So in the end my eternal shade drove her away, just as my light and enthusiasm had attracted her. Yet that wasn't the end. Couldn't be the end, not for us. As trite and melodramatic as it sounds, we were made for one another. Soulmates or some such thing, destined to meet and to love. Despite my faults, despite the spells, despite the conceit and despite being a fool, she and I are meant to be.
As the darkness transcends, I can once again discern my own light, tarnished though it may be. Somehow it is not lost or forgotten. It is there, waiting to be released and given full rein of my dwindling spirit. The warmth of my own soul has finally been allowed to burst forth with heat and hope. Gone is the determined certainty of my own infallibility, and in its wake the fallibility of truth is allowed to grow.
Light and shadow, shadow and light. The shadow dependant on the light, but the light given form by the shadow. Both required to complete the picture and make it whole; a perfect image of life and love. The good and the bad, right and wrong, hesitant and certain. We will be both to each other, open and honest in all things and beholden to our love.
Love.
Despite the shadow, despite the lies, the love is still there. Never to be taken for granted but treasured for the hope it gives. The hope of a future. A future with her.
The End