Guest Poem by Simon Jackson

Simon Jackson’s poetry, plays, films and music have been printed and performed internationally and won many awards. His short films with Scottish poets, Billy Bragg and Franz Nicolay have been screened by the BBC, Rolling Stone and in film festivals around the world, and his last play, Turning to the Camera, was The Guardian's Pick of the Week for Scottish theatre. He's never come close to making a living through poetry and art and teaches Film in Shanghai.

The Light

You are composed of heavenly light and shade,
arms raised like Caravaggio’s Saint Paul
in his Conversion on the Road to Damascus.
Your hands reach into the surgeon’s light.
I am relegated to the shadows
like Saul’s servant, holding the horse’s head,
a role of unenlightened comforter,
as you focus, blind to all else,
fingers raised as if blessing,
beckoning the light of our daughter
into this world.