In the Dark

John Salminen, "Chicago River"

In the Dark

God said: Let the dark be dark.

Let the stars shine properly.

And let darkness with no stars

heal the damage caused by the light.

Men said: Let there be light all

 night through, where there is no-one

much or no-one at all, let

the gathered haze from street-lamps,

undying brand-names, full-blaze

unpopulated windows

stain the undersides of clouds

even when the nights are cloudless.

God said: Light itself needs rest.

Some things are best seen, unseen,

in darkness unhindered by

Great Light. Me, for example.

Robin Fulton Macpherson 

Another "let" poem. I like that its the opposite of "Let there be light!" It reminds me of Ecclesiastes - "There's a time for everything." Time for light, and time for darkness. Time to work, and time to rest. The last stanza makes me think of  Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", in which the protagonist comes to what he feels is the epicenter of evil and darkness, and finds the tiniest pinpoint of light there, and feels for the first time the full power of  it. Its the contrasts sometimes, that speak to us most.