Poems (Argent)/Lux in Tenebris

by Alice Emily Argent

For works with similar titles, see Lux in Tenebris.

LUX IN TENEBRIS.

THERE are, I wist,
Some shadowy nooks within this world of ours
 By morning beam of sunshine seldom kist,
So cold and cheerless seem their days and hours,
 And yet through stone and chink, and mire and mart,
 God gives a light to penetrate each heart.

      There are who sit
Within that self-same shadow, yet they take
 The cup of sorrow meekly, as is fit
They thus should drink it for the dear Lord's sake;
 Who see through faith, (though tears their eyes enshroud),
 The silver lining breaking through the cloud.

      And there be some
Sweet patient souls who dwell in narrow ways
 To whom the pearl of health doth seldom come,
So full of suffering are all their days;
 And yet within them burning clear and bright
 A voice that says "Behold! I am thy light!"

      There are, I ween,
Some hidden corners in the woods and lanes
 Unguessed by man, for thickly by a screen
Of leafy banners, and mute summer rains
 They fail our vision—but the light they win
 In the green silence is by God closed in.

      But it is there,
Invisible unto the human eye
 Accustomed to the sunshine lying fair
In undulating waves o'er sea and sky.
 The shades of evening and their dying rays
 Point to the sun who lights the woodland ways.

      No perfect song
But has a touch of sadness in its strain,
 An undercurrent moving swift and strong,
That takes us captive o'er and o'er again.
 No lovely picture but a shade of night
 Was blended softly to throw up its light.

      So, likewise we
In thoroughfares of keen perplexèd thought
 Glance upwards, till our souls are taught to see
The mingled blessings joy and grief have wrought
 In our lives' patterns—then we know that love
 Wielded both lights and shadows from above!