This Light

For Light
Words 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 world.

XOXO