Cythra/Windows

Windows

The edge of the night can cut so deeply,
But the light in the window gives me hope.
The edge of the night won't kill you cleanly.
In the darkness you will grope.

I'm ne'er lost and alone in the darkness.
While the beacon from your window shines.
Giving me a sense of calmness.
Because its glow is so divine.

There's a light on in the window,
Whene'er I pass by.
Your warmth shines from the window,
The window in your eyes.

Conception Notes:

(For those curious about such things)

The initial concept for this piece started when I randomly decided I should probably write something called "The Light in the Window". It was a title that just came to me one morning. I made a note of it. A lot of my inspiration is from things that just come to me even though I have no idea where they come from. If they seem good, I write them down. The window in the title wasn't necessarily going to be literal but, whether literal or not, I wanted it to be an emotional beacon – a source of happiness or relief – possibly something to cling to in times of strife. It could even be a metaphor for Eerie (isn't everything?). Regardless of meaning, I had a title that I strongly believed would work... for something.

A short time later (maybe within the same hour) the term, "edge of night" came into my head as a thought for a line or theme in a completely separate piece. I wanted to make the word "edge" take on a slightly different meaning with it cutting deeply like a blade of some kind; Figuratively. Yeah, probably figuratively. It was just a thing that sounded cool to me.

Later still (weeks), I decided that I had a title and I had a line or concept and that the two actually did, surprisingly, fit together, I gave up on my determination that these were separate pieces, started writing, and this was the result. To me, it was too short to be a song, but long enough for what it needed to be. After discussing Berries & Ink with Ysindre, who contributed to the first issue, I felt it was the perfect venue for this poem. The finished piece is relatively similar to the "first draft", though the last line in the first stanza was originally something about being "against the ropes". I really didn't like that at all so I changed it. After I finished it, I briefly considered calling it "Dark and Light". I then changed the title back to "The Light in the Window" before deciding to simply call it "Windows". In fact, I didn't settle on these changes until after I initially submitted it to Illiya for publication in Berries & Ink, Volume 1, Issue #2. Thank you Illiya for humouring me.