
Hello dear poets!
Welcome to the last May Monday afternoon (my midnight). It is showtime now and let the prima donna Ms. Quadrille take the centre stage. Dim the lights, sit in the shadows, for she is appealing to your dark side to emerge under the darkling sky. Pull up the shroud of darkness and spill your darkest deeds/secrets!
Okay, let’s cut the drama. Darkness is often defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light. There are, of course, degrees of darkness; from the complete darkness on a moonless night to the darkness of a room illuminated by candlelight. Darkness is open to interpretation, since it’s defined as a lack of light. There’s also a figurative darkness, which can represent wickedness, sadness, ignorance, or simply mystery. The emotional response to darkness has generated metaphorical usages of the term in many cultures, often used to describe an unhappy or foreboding feeling.

The polarity of Light and Dark through a myriad of pop culture franchises and ancient texts is almost always portrayed as a war between good and evil.

.
But darkness can also mean peace, rest and relaxation. Everyone wants to rest when it is dark. Birds fly to their nests at dusk. Cattle return to their homes. Most of the working men and women get free from their work by the evening. It is the law of nature to work during the day and rest during the night. Dark clouds bring rain which is vital for life on the earth. Black Nightingale sings beautifully during monsoon. Dark eyes and hair have been topic of poetry since times immemorial.

Read this lovely poem “The dark forest” by Edward Thomas.
‘Dark is the forest and deep, and overhead
Hang stars like seeds of light
In vain, though not since they were sown was bred
Anything more bright’.
Or read “Storm Fhttps://poets.org/poem/storm-fearear” by Robert Frost.
“When the wind works against us in the dark,
And pelts the snow
The lower chamber window on the east,
And whispers with a sort of stifled bark,
The beast,
‘Come out! Come out!’”
And Darkness by Lord Byron.
I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish’d, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
So today, Fellow lovers of our poetry form of 44 words, it is time to darken your pristine white pages. Craft us a poem of dark thoughts, darker humour, darkest deeds or a darkling glance or maybe the darkness of soul! Use any form of the word darkness and write a poem. Then link back to this post. Paste the link of your post over at Mr.Linky. Remember the link will remain open till Sunday midnight. Happy quadrilling!!
Good evenings poets, and thank you for hosting with a dark theme, Punam!
Good evening, Kim. I look forward to your Q.
Hello everyone! Welcome to Quadrille Monday. The pub is open and we are taking poems as they come. As it is extremely hot where I stay, I have a jug full of fresh lemonade if anyone is interested. In the evening I had baked blueberry puffs. Please let me know what you would like as I wait for some dark writings.
Hello… darkness is scarce here in Sweden right now (9PM and still almost daylight)…so that is were my poem went.
I loved it Björn. It is dark and hot here.
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Hi Punam! I’d love some lemonade.🍋 I’ll sit back and drink it during this severe thunderstorm we’re supposed to have.⛈️
A tall glass of chilled lemonade for you, Melissa. Send that thunderstorm this way. ⛈️
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hi Punam
hi poets
thanks for great prompt
cheers rog
Hi Rog. Glad you enjoyed the prompt.
Hello Kim, Punam, and All! Late to the party but wrote the poem yesterday. Family is over and just getting time to post. “Happy” Memorial Day in the US. Be back later to read.
Hello Li. Happy Memorial Day. Enjoy time with your family. ❤️
Thanks, Punam. They just left. Nice to have them here today. Usually I do the driving over there.
Good to know you had a great time, Li.
Love this word, and where it took me, Punam! And a quick visit to your poem gave me the gift of a new-to-me word: darkled.
Thank you!
Delighted that you enjoyed the prompt and the prompt gifted us all a new word! Will read your Q in a while.
Very apt prompt for poetry, that needs exploring. I remember when I lived in the Middle East there was nothing like mint tea to cool one down. I’m sorry it is impossible to comment on my page…I have it like that as I am never sure if I can comment or not as I move around a bit fairly often, so prefer to get my comment in if I can and not worry
Thanks, Ain. Mint tea does help as well as mint spiked lemonade. Always appreciate your visits and comments but not being able to reciprocate just doesn’t feel right. I do understand that with moving around it is difficult to ensure that the links are working. It is, though, so good to have you back amongst us.
‘Sound of silence’ has been following me the last few weeks – so had to, had to get involved. What serendipity! This is the first time I’ve stumbled upon this great challenge! Thank you d’Vers! Just had a quick tour around the various responses – and they have been wonderful in variety and approaches!! This is such a rich idea – thank you! I hope you enjoy my two-pence!
How wonderful ! It is serendipity indeed. Welcome to dVerse. We have prompts every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. It would be lovely to have you participate in our challenges/prompts. We have participants from all over the blogosphere and you will, if I may say so without sounding boastful, some of the very best poetry here.
So, hop on board. 🙂
Thank you! Glad to be on board! Looking forward to future challenges and prompts!
Wonderful prompt Punam. I went for dark dark darkness. 😏 This was fun. 👍🏼✌🏼🫶🏼
So happy you enjoyed the prompt, Rob! Dark dark darkness sounds intriguing. Will be there soon. 👍🏼😊
I don’t see the Mr. Linky so here this is.
Is anyone else having trouble commenting on Ain’s poems? She really brought the sound of darkness to us in her quadrille. I’ve never heard in reality any of the sounds she describes, but I heard them in her poem, and felt the ‘anger when the missile brings utter darkness’.
Hi Kim. I am having problem in opening the link that Ain shares. As long as he was posting on Medium or Telegram, I could access the posts. But the Telegraph link does not open for me.
Thank you for the prompt! I love Quadrilles! (Always late to the party. 😀 )
So happy to hear you are joining the party! The Quadrille party continues till Sunday. 😀
Nolcha Fox – I can’t comment on your poem but I found it to be so eerily beautiful. The phantom beads lovely and evocative of memories not quite there.
I will let Nolcha know, Debi.
Thank you so much
You are welcome.
Hi Debi, thank you so much! I actually do see phantom silk strings hanging from doorways because of the migraine medication I take. Now, if only I could grow wings…..
Wings would be wonderful
Sounds like a great prompt. I have been under the weather for the past twelve days, and yesterday was diagnosed with pnemonia! So, I will not be writing or reading much this next week.
Oh, dear! Dwight, please take good care of yourself and rest as much as possible. No worries about taking a break. Health is of utmost importance.
Thank you, Punam, I will. At this point most of what I can do is rest!
You are welcome. Take care.
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Hello all, Punam. Many thanks for hosting Punam and for this delicious prompt.
So glad you think so, Paul. Looking forward to your Q.
😀
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Better late than never, but you brought back the memory of childhood fears of the dark, Punam…
Sorry – I mean that was a good prompt thanks so much…
Your prompt email was a poem in itself! Looking forward to reading at least some of the many responses to your dark theme, Punam.
Very good 👍👍👍👍
Thank you.
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You can leave the link of your post at Mr.Linky. It is open till Sunday.
I enjoyed the prompt so much I wrote a second poem but put it in the MTB link. Thanks!
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