She Collapsed the Night

Sometimes inspiration comes from unexpected places.

A couple weeks ago, I was down with the flu. It’s been a brutal season this year; everyone seems to be getting sick. Anyhow, as I often do when I’m recuperating, I took some time to get caught up on some shows and movies. Apple TV had recently released a film called The Gorge, starring Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy. It got mixed reviews, but I gave it a shot anyway. I'm glad I did.

If you haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is that two highly trained snipers are independently sent to stand guard over opposite sides of a gorge in a remote location. The job is simple - maintain the grounds, and make sure that nothing pops out of the gorge that shouldn’t; maintain and contain.

I won’t spoil it just in case you choose to see it yourself, but from watching the preview for the film, we learn that the two of them wind up getting to know one another, and ultimately fall in love.

What struck me about the film was how effective it was in telling the story despite the relative lack of dialog. The two characters (Levi, played by Teller, and Drasa, played by Taylor-Joy) are completely isolated from the rest of the world, and can really only communicate via written notes and high-powered binoculars to read what the other has written. It underscores the power that words possess, and drives home the comfort that we find in the company of another.

At one point, Levi tells Drasa about a poem he wrote for her. But, we’re only shown a snippet of his work… and this is where something stirred in me. I decided to finish Levi’s poem to Drasa. If you’ve seen the film, this will make much more sense, but I think it stands on its own well enough.

Here it is. The bolded words are Levi’s. The rest are mine.

She Collapsed the Night

I did not know, I knew how to hope

Did not know, I’d long been hoping

To behold you,

Coping only to be held by you

You - Unshatterable alabaster

You - Starlight carved by chainsaw

You - Dancing fire across the dawning gaze collapsed

Unyielding in the delight of your clarity

An archangel’s kiss pressed into stone and sinew

Changed everything for me…

Me - Adrift yet resolute

Me - Simmering chaos, incarnate

Me - Unlocked in the winds of your night

Collapsed now, we stand in the day

Sun drenched and breath full

Moving as one

I know now what I longed to know

What it feels like to hold, not hope

To have

To be

With you, atop the chasm’s night

Now collapsed

Until next time,

-Paul Michael