Cormack, Jennifer C.

English

Dartmouth Digital Commons (Dartmouth College)

 1 Light of the World  Separated from the Light of the World, I fled conflict— to Paris, raging against the Light, beautifying evil, starved for love.  At Notre Dame, I gawked, open-mouthed. Begged stone to bind up wounds. Returned again and again to the queen. Stalked the structure: towers, flying buttresses, nave, high altar. Mocked her preeminence with drunken dance, upside-down photography.  Along the Seine, I dragged heels over revolutionary stones, once bloodthirsty for revenge, and flung accusations at my own tapestry of disappointment. Desperate for purpose, I ached for a reason to return home.  Naiveté grasped vampire friendship. The beginning of the end became the treasure of darkness.  And there I stalled. Toured Great Britain, solo. Hitchhiked verdant County Sligo. Mistook independence for romance  while bridging the Vltava. Traded truth for lies, passion for love until my visa expired.    Falsely declared, I sweat in the immigration queue and worried how conflict faired over absence. Determined to embrace the return,  2 I veiled heart and mind with Paris glitter.  Smothered in black couture, inside and out, I sunk into a dark abyss. Vampire spirits materialized. Threaded lies. Paralyzed me. 

Light of the World

https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&amp;context=clamantis

Light of the World

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