Sparks, having Grazed into
The Night – Surrender to it²
From Dark Path to Dark Path
We’ve Wandered in Darkness³
The Light, what of the Light? Splintered, Died⁴
Against that Darkness – one is Bereft of Rights⁵
We can’t read the Darkness: it’s a form of Madness⁶
For Fear lest Day should look their Shames upon,
They willfully themselves Exile from Light – and
Must for aye consort with Black-Browed Night⁷
Our Darkness Breathes Deeper in the Dark⁸
Give it enough Shadow – give it as much
As you know to be Parceled out between
Your Midnight & Midday & Midnight⁹
Lie Bathed in Shadow, Eclipsed
At Midnight – Cleansed Pure¹⁰
¹ John Dryden, Mac-Flecknoe
² Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway
³ Hakuin Ekaku tr. Rochester Zen Center, Chant in Praise of Zazen
⁴ Jamaica Kincaid, At Last
⁵ Iris Murdoch, The Black Prince
⁶ Maggie Nelson, Bluets 130
⁷ William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
⁸ Bruce Bond, Lamella
⁹ Paul Celan tr. John Felstiner, Speak, You Too
¹⁰ Laura Hershey, Orion on the Porch