In the Mist of Darkness

Grey clouds begin to fill the light blue sky.
Where is the light? It can hardly be seen.
Dark, gloomy, and scary to some it might be,
leaving room for questions; such as why?
It remains to be true; for there is no answer that will appease.
I cannot see myself or you.
Please do not cry or have sympathy,
because in life, there are no guarantees.
Darkness is a part of reality,
and whatever the case may be,
it will not limit your possibilities.

This past month, my niece has been asking me a lot about darkness as it pertains to blindness. In my niece’s point of view, as a child who sleeps with a night light, darkness is daunting. My niece and I have lots of conversations about my blindness. One day she said, “It must be scary being in the dark all of the time, I guess you are use to it.” In actuality, when I initially lost my sight, I was terrified of being in complete darkness because that meant I would not be able to physically see what was going on around me.
Over time, my fears decimated; I used other ways to compensate for my vision loss. Such ways include, but are not limited to paying more attention to the sounds, smells, perceptions, etc. With this in mind, it was easy for me to calmly reassure my niece that over time, being in the dark is not as frightening as it seems. Darkness can leave a lot to a person’s imagination. I have said this in past posts, and I truly believe it; darkness allows a person to look beyond the physical and see what’s within.
These past nine years, I have listened to my niece grapple with my blindness by asking questions and trying to understand what is being explained to her. I am a proud Aunt because I’m amazed how well my niece has adjusted to my situation. My niece seeks to inform others, such as her peers, about blindness. In this post, I have given my niece’s and my perspectives on darkness. So, what does darkness mean to you?