On the 7th January 2015, during my second chemo session, I listened to Mark Fowler’s piano arrangement of The Dark Knight Rises (Hans Zimmer’s music score for the Batman film) through my earphones on repeat. I realised the music perfectly embodies the physical and spiritual struggle of the tough nights that follow each chemo session. Sitting there with the chemo drip in my hand and the music in my ears, I was inspired and wrote the poem below:  “Rise from the Darkened Night”.

Rise from the Darkened Night

Wiping cobwebs from my face,
letting them go, to float away.
They twirl and dance, free to be with the wind –
Sparkling beads of lace.

My shadow turns away and walks
towards the darkness of the night.
I too follow, holding up my heart,
the lantern of our light.

Entering this poisonous land,
we push through against the stormy winds,
my eyes shielded by punctured hands.

I see shrivelled leaves and bald trees,
drinking from rivers of red.
I bend down to drink with them –
all our cupped hands have bled.

Together we roar against the howling wind,
to cross the forest of beating hearts.
Leaning against the pounding trees,
we bless their tired souls, step not on their crispy leaves.

At the edge of shadows, caped dragonflies
drawn to the flickering lanterns of lights, whisper:
“Don’t fade.
Don’t sigh, don’t groan,
Don’t be left behind, to be left alone.
Walk tall behind your shield.
Pain tears open your soul –
to make it grow”.

Sorrowfully, they ask –  why do we fall?

“To rise. To rise from the cocoon of ashes.
Bat your butterfly wings and take flight, towards the light,
towards the echoes of sound”.

We look up and rise.
Like bats we fly –
out of the darkened night.

Eimear Coghlan 7.01.2015

………………………………………………..

Inspiration…

Here is the beautiful music that inspired me. Mark Fowler playing his piano arrangement of Hans Zimmer’s The Dark Knight Rises.

It has the highs and the lows and more importantly the feeling of rising up through it all, stronger than before. I became obsessed with listening to it during my second treatment, the music really entranced me. It became my chemo soundtrack.