Saturday, September 15, 2012

Lighting Up the Dark

A lamp without a bulb, or a bottle of oil,
Is much like labor in the day, strife and toil.
At night you return, your weariness grows;
You try to hide it, but in the dark it shows.
More evident in the folds of the night
Is one's pain, his grief, than in the light.
For the light pardons all wrongs, soothes all pain,
It governs one along in a gentle refrain.
But the dark dispels one's happiness,
Takes away what love would refresh.

Consider then a man and woman:
As one is like to do in his devotion
To observing the natural things in this life;
Consider further that of man and wife.
Consider more so the bulb, the oil,
And the lamp stand weary with toil.
Interchange either one with man and wife,
Know that each, the other, keeps from strife.
Working together they make a whole;
For the design is such that when full
Of energy from the bulb is the lamp stand
Its structure allows for the bulb to hand
Out light to the room, and darkness dispel.
Protecting one from the torrents of hell.
And understand, this light, this gift,
This power to drive back, the veil to lift,
Is given from two, from two is devised;
It cannot be changed, cannot be revised. 
And from it comes forth another, in form
Of, perhaps, a sister, or brother. 
Such is the light, such is the day.
Such is the radiance of love in May.

Consider then the path you are on;
Not with fear, anxiety, but trust in the dawn
That is sure to come with time and patience.
Craft the lamp and the bulb, or oil. Monstrance
Is what keeps the Eucharist upright.
Eucharist is what heals the blind of their sight.

Consider you now, the blessings made firm
In love and devotion to one whose infirm.
Man and woman, both have faults;
But still God endeavors to, from his vaults
Of heavenly bliss, give them life;
Such abundance saves them from strife.

So consider well, my friend, when the dark
Comes around to take away your spark,
Think oft of the one you love, you will see;
The thought of him, your heart is set free.
Together hold hands, though the dark obscure
The love you bear, of that love be sure.
And with it dawn will come, eventually.
Dawn comes. Of that we have certainty. 

Lighting Up the Dark, (c) Luke Bennette, September 2012

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