Staying Power #162: "Lost in the Dark"
An original poem-in-progress
Look closely, my friend. That candle you see in the darkness above is actually flickering, with a flame that never goes out.
Light is always there in the night to meet your own shining. Even when you think you’ve been snuffed out.
LOST IN THE NIGHT
Phyllis Cole-Dai
Then
light appears
winking
like a candle
in a window
a couple miles south
on a prairie
so thick with dark
you can’t make out
the shape of the house
the flickering
might belong to.
All you can see
through the black
where you stand
is a tiny glint
too low to the land
to be the burning
of any star’s wick.
Pinprick of light,
shining far and faint
across the treeless plain.
Maybe it’s there to tell you
which way to go
or maybe to let you know
you have what's needed to go on.
Maybe it means to say
the place you are
is the place to stay
at least till the bloom of dawn.
What does it matter
in this deep night
how that wee light
came to be there
or who struck the match
or if it were lit
for the sake of you?
What the light means
is what you will do.
The Gentle Nudge
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First thing that came to my mind is how, when I really relax into meditation, I frequently see flickering light. This I know is the Light of God.
The last two lines, Phyllis, are especially powerful. I was glad to see this poem. I've been looking at some paintings lately by Georges de la Tour and Joseph Wright who experimented with the effects of candlelight. Chiaroscuro. I asked myself, what do I want to take away from the juxtaposition of darkness and light. Thank you!