Taken In Faith: Poems

Degrees of Shade

Degrees of Shade Sic autem se habet omnis creatura ad Deum sicut aer ad solem illuminantem. Thomas Aquinas Our darkness stays, the self-made dark we know, And I, ever desiring to be right, Am ever more removed, conceiving not— As foot can feel the earth and hand, the snow, And still be unaware—I live in light, Within yet willfully without your thought. Your partial absence, as a shade, extends Upon the brightness that my will obscures. I am confounded by degrees of shade And sometimes think the shade’s arc reascends To perfect separation. But I am yours, Though nothing, if again I am unmade. I cannot do as some in rage have done, Who hating love’s compulsion love their hate So much they slay themselves perfecting it. The course must be endured that was begun In shade’s dominion and empowered so late To move from out the darkness you permit.  You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. ...