Another Footnote
For Light
by John O'Donohue
Light cannot see inside things.
That is what the dark is for:
Minding the interior,
Nurturing the draw of growth
Through places where death
In its own way turns into life.
In the glare of neon times,
Let our eyes not be worn
By surfaces that shine
With hunger made attractive.
That our thoughts may be true light,
Finding their way into words
Which have the weight of shadow
To hold the layers of truth.
That we never place our trust
In minds claimed by empty light,
Where one-sided certainties
Are driven by false desire.
When we look into the heart,
May our eyes have the kindness
And reverence of candlelight.
That the searching of our minds
Be equal to the oblique
Crevices and corners where
The mystery continues to dwell,
Glimmering in fugitive light.
When we are confined inside
The dark house of suffering
That moonlight might find a window.
When we become false and lost
That the severe noon-light
Would cast our shadow clear.
When we love, that dawn-light
Would lighten our feet
Upon the waters.
As we grow old, that twilight
Would illuminate treasure
In the fields of memory.
And when we come to search for God,
Let us first be robed in night,
Put on the mind of morning
To feel the rush of light
Spread slowly inside
The color and stillness
Of a found word.
-- from To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings, by John O'Donohue
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Poetry Chaikhana | John O'Donohue - For Light
I was looking for a different lyric, which turned out to be not all what i remembered it being; and I fell into this poem which says exactly what i want it to say.
I am remined of the story of the man of a man searching for a lost object under a streetlamp.
A helpful passerby stops and looks for a while then asks:
"Are you sure you dropped it here."
"Oh, no", said the man, pointing into the darkness,
"I dropped it over there, but the light is much better here."
A prioer resoibse night have been, If you didn't lose it here
you are not going to find it here,
no matter how good you think the light is.
"Divine light" does not resemble sunlight.
nor neon, LED, nor "the glare of truth,"
nor microscope, nor telescope, nor imagination.
It is a metaphor
for something
no human language can express.
by John O'Donohue
Light cannot see inside things.
That is what the dark is for:
Minding the interior,
Nurturing the draw of growth
Through places where death
In its own way turns into life.
In the glare of neon times,
Let our eyes not be worn
By surfaces that shine
With hunger made attractive.
That our thoughts may be true light,
Finding their way into words
Which have the weight of shadow
To hold the layers of truth.
That we never place our trust
In minds claimed by empty light,
Where one-sided certainties
Are driven by false desire.
When we look into the heart,
May our eyes have the kindness
And reverence of candlelight.
That the searching of our minds
Be equal to the oblique
Crevices and corners where
The mystery continues to dwell,
Glimmering in fugitive light.
When we are confined inside
The dark house of suffering
That moonlight might find a window.
When we become false and lost
That the severe noon-light
Would cast our shadow clear.
When we love, that dawn-light
Would lighten our feet
Upon the waters.
As we grow old, that twilight
Would illuminate treasure
In the fields of memory.
And when we come to search for God,
Let us first be robed in night,
Put on the mind of morning
To feel the rush of light
Spread slowly inside
The color and stillness
Of a found word.
-- from To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings, by John O'Donohue
<
>
Poetry Chaikhana | John O'Donohue - For Light
I was looking for a different lyric, which turned out to be not all what i remembered it being; and I fell into this poem which says exactly what i want it to say.
I am remined of the story of the man of a man searching for a lost object under a streetlamp.
A helpful passerby stops and looks for a while then asks:
"Are you sure you dropped it here."
"Oh, no", said the man, pointing into the darkness,
"I dropped it over there, but the light is much better here."
A prioer resoibse night have been, If you didn't lose it here
you are not going to find it here,
no matter how good you think the light is.
"Divine light" does not resemble sunlight.
nor neon, LED, nor "the glare of truth,"
nor microscope, nor telescope, nor imagination.
It is a metaphor
for something
no human language can express.