Darkness

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.

John Martin's Apocalypse, Tate Britain, Pimilco, Westminster, SW1P

The bright sun was extinguish’d, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,

Glendalough, County Wicklow, Ireland

Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;

Mike Leigh's Naked (1993)

Morn came and went–and came, and brought no day,
And men forgot their passions in the dread

Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood (1952)

Of this their desolation; and all hearts
Were chill’d into a selfish prayer for light…

Bill Callahan's Apocalypse (2011)

From Lord Byron’s Darkness (1816)

The L-Shaped Room

A firm knock sounded at the bedroom door. She had not noticed how long she had been gazing idly but during this time the karaoke had lulled.

The L-Shaped Room, St Luke's Road, Notting Hill, Kensington & Chelsea, W11

Her father put the top half of his body around the door before she could even reply to the knock.

“Thought you was going down the shops? Where’s my fags?”