Be a light in the darkness
Be a light
Be
If only I could
But it is not so easy to be the light
In a world that embraces darkness
It is not easy to be light
When people condemn you for shining light
In the dark places
And call you divisive
A hater
Gaslighting kills light
And so one sits in the darkness
Flickering
The light barely alive
While the darkness grows and grows
Gaining power through lies
And abusive power
And wealth
While darkness sits in the halls of power
In the courts of justice
While the greedy and abusive win
While the people of the lie (Scott Peck)
Call good evil, and evil good
And up down, and down up
The children of darkness abandon and vilify
The homeless
The immigrant
The poor
Those souls so foolish
As to not be rich, and powerful
One cannot help but remember the words of the prophets
Who also saw times like this
“Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil
on their beds!
At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in
their power to do it.
They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take
them.
They defraud people, rob them
Therefore, the Lord says:
I am planning disaster against this people” (Micah)
Dare we believe that our helplessness is not definitive?
That their unchecked power is not definitive?
That there is a higher law
A deeper truth
That will turn the darkness against itself
Until it cracks
And once again, the light leaks in
Can we continue to be light until then
Can the light of love, and hope
Peace and joy keep burning
Through the long night
Perhaps I will never see
the time when light returns
Perhaps our world, our country
Will continue to slide into the abyss
It has happened so many times
Yes, resurrection has happened
A new thing has been birthed, time and time again,
But only after destruction
Only after all is gone
And nothing is left but rubble
But still
We can, perhaps hope
We can be people with soft fronts
Refusing to live in hate
We can be people with strong backs
Refusing to accept quietly
The lies, the hate, the injustice
Refusing to let people silence us
By making us the haters, when we call out hate
Making us divisive when we call out the lies
We are all too eager to let them
Gaslight us
And silence us
Because we care, it matters
We want to be fair. We have our doubts
We want to be people of grace
Is there still hope?
can we live in a way that keeps the light alive
Even as we die
Are silenced and suffocated
Perhaps we can keep burning
And perhaps
Even if our light goes out
We will have lit the flame in another
Perhaps
Perhaps we who are losing our will to burn
Can still be a light for others
Perhaps
But at this point?
I am no longer sure
