Thursday, May 16, 2019

A brighter lantern

A brighter lantern                                                                                     

All talk about the Path and the Goal,
said my Lord, is a lantern carried by a blind man.

Afraid of the darkness and feeling no one
near enough trustworthy (save myself)

to traverse the perilous way, I have begged
time and again for more light!  A brighter lantern! 

A blind man needs a staff in his hand, said my Lord. 
And He has provided me one of a sort,

merely out of compassion – a substitute for sight;
shown the methods of probing with it,

my hitting upon many a brief, comforting revelation
when I have been unable to move forward

any other way, incapable of perceiving Him
always near and ever ready

to provide all the guidance I should ever require.
The lover needs his hand in the God-Man's, He said.

And I am groping blindly now for that hand,
ready to discard at last the false

and temporary solace of the ineffectual lantern,
the rigid, unwieldy staff.

O child of God, it is up to you and your fate to grasp
and yield to His omnipotent authority and shelter.

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