Last Light

by Claire Kent

Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart.

There’s a defense mechanism built into the human soul. You get to a point where loss is so immense that the part of you that hurts when something dies simply shuts down. You go numb.

Heart of my own heart, whate’er befall.

Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

try to explain. “You know, it wasn’t very long ago when it never would have occurred to me. I was raised to believe a woman could do anything a man could. To know I could be independent. Live alone if I wanted. Or live however I wanted with whoever I wanted. The idea that I’d be somehow unsafe without a man to take care of me…” I clear my throat. “So it just… still sometimes feels weird.”

Travis adds, “Men might be stronger, but we’re not independent anymore either.”

“You relied on the gun. If your faith is in a gun, then you’re never gonna be able to always defend yourself.”

It matters—even at the end of the world. Doing right by the people you love.

I was wrong. I know that now. The world was never ending. What I assumed was the last light of the sun was always my beginning.