Denise Kemp
AURORA
This piece is mainly inspired by all the brave, compassionate people who tirelessly dedicate their lives to protecting our animals and nature. These people do so much to create awareness about the plight of abused animals and the state that our planet is in. They also get actively involved; they are not apathetic. It was further inspired by all the despair resulting from Covid-19 and all the division it’s causing. Standing back, watching people go by in their masks, I can’t shake the feeling that the world is very ill. Now, more than ever before, we should stand strong together to try and heal the world. We can divert from the path of destruction and blaze new trails in a healthy new world. I called this piece Aurora so that it can make one think of the beautiful aurora borealis. The light is out there and we have to find it.
AURORA
Their silhouettes were etched against the scarred night sky as they stretched their limbs out towards the Heavens in silent desperation. The sun mercilessly scorched the earth by day. The wounded soldiers wasted away and the landscape became bleaker with each passing day.
How could we not have foreseen their fall from grace? Why did we do so little to save them? Is it because we are apathetic and so relentless in our quest for self-destruction and the destruction of other beings?
Then one day, flocks of ravens started gathering, shrieking and restlessly circling the land. Was it an omen maybe, that the end of the world was nigh? Was all hope lost? As my tears flowed into the polluted river, I knew that we only had ourselves to blame for this catastrophe; for this harvest of shame.
The skies became ever darker. And then came that fateful day, thirty days after the ravens’ frantic behaviour. Around a wobbly sun, a blood red circle appeared. The sun started breaking up, releasing millions of scorching hot droplets into the air before darkness fell. Some ran around in search for cover. Others fell to their knees and prayed for a miracle!
We plucked up the seeds from the fallen soldiers; (those forsaken trees that had unselfishly sheltered us throughout time) and we raced toward the lights, twinkling from afar. Eventually we found ourselves a long way from what we once called home.
We planted the seeds and they quickly grew tall and strong. We nurtured the new land we had found with all the love and respect we had inside of us and we started afresh beneath a kaleidoscope of lights in the sky that smiled forgivingly down upon us. The last of civilisation had all gathered in this sacred space where a whole lot of colourful lights provided all the energy for life that we needed. Money and greed didn’t have a home there.
30 years later:
She drifted further and further towards the mesmerizing lights beckoning from the end of the tunnel. “Aurora! Aurora!” The young woman saw blurry images of her parents and the scars the dying sun had accidentally inflicted upon them and other dedicated activists that got too close while trying to save civilisation. “Turn back! Fight! Don’t give up warrior daughter of ours! Continue the work you helped us with, establishing ourselves in this new world where every living being and nature can continue to survive and thrive. Remember, we named you after the lights that lead us here. Shine ever bright!”
Aurora frantically reached out to them through the haze, but they disappeared into the lights.
“Aurora! Aurora!” Ah, I need to find the light at the end of the tunnel...
All the while, the young soldiers stood there so proud and tall beneath the luminous sky of the new world ... they were waiting for Aurora.
About Denise Kemp
Denise was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She emigrated to Canada in 2012. She works at the Toronto Public Library where, surrounded by books, she feels at peace and the library is like a second home to her. She completed a short writing course in December 2012 and then she started entering writing contests. Her first literary publication was in the Scarborough Arts Big Art Book early in 2013; that’s where her publication History began. It’s through her writing that Denise has found her voice, expression and outlet.