Black and white
surely opposites?
Yin and Yang
perfectly nested
complete a circle
no mixing, no grey areas
White light is a mixture
of all the colours
whilst dark is the
absence of light
light’s shadow friend
inseparable
For as long as stars
burn bright with light
and there are objects
arrayed to block the light
then there must necessarily
be shadow until
all the stars go out
When we paint we
use chiaroscuro to
bring our canvasses to life
light and dark to throw
our subjects into relief
to shade them – then we see
that shadows are not
universally dark but
illuminated by reflection
of the light from other objects
whose colour has sucked dry
those hues that are not it’s to own
Yellow swallows everything
that we do not deem yellow
and reflected into neighbouring
shadow – a hint of gold
will now suffuse the shade
making it less than black
Nowhere is free from
scattered light and so
no white nor black
are wholly pure
Yin and Yang
a pure conceit
Shadows are shades
of other colours who
are merely filters that
absorb some wavelengths
reflect back the rest
to our miraculous eye
Watercolourists work
with transparent hues
whilst oil painters apply
solid, light-absorbing paint
and TVs shine out light
and print must duller be
We swim in a milieu
of light and filters
making shades of hues
and dappling shadows
with subtle colour – we are all
in reality, impressionists…
© Andrew Wilson, 2025
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Grace is hosting Open Link Night when you can post a poem of your own choosing. This one was written for the monthly poetry group at my local library, a small and distinctly analogue group whose subject this month was Opposites…