Such a Light Such Dark Did Span

By A Michigan Skylark


I.

Christmas 1863, Camp Douglas, Chicago


There are no great lights here, no dew drops or mercies shining.

Only when the numb midwestern sky is free of snow and bars

can he find them—gripping the dark above this foreign lake that drums and roars.

Stars,

but no guides;

light less

than everlasting.


Christmas 1863, Bivouac, 23rd Illinois Volunteers


Painfully pure,

straight as rail or bayonet

he's learned to thrust into a heart

and twist.

He must temper his honor in a tepid forge, watch victory curl

into indiscriminate hunger.

His only direction now is west: reaching out and reaching out

—vindicated

and fatherless.


II.

Christmas 1870, Wyoming Territory


Gentle span of a gentler darkness: the hearth,

the lanterns, and the old Majestic

weave a stout bright line

and send it out

into the night.


As they quarter slowly down the hill

two orphan soldiers feel the pull

from darkness into grace

into welcome's sweet embrace

by the light all darknesses efface:


this light of home,

this perfect light,

this holy light

this love's

pure

light.


SR

SR*SR

**SR**SR***

SR***SR***SR***SR

****SR****SR****SR****

SR


Notes:


I borrowed the title of my poem from a work by Ursula Penton Vaughan Williams (a beautiful setting of her poem by her husband, composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, is included in his cantata Hodie):

Promise fills the sky with light,

Stars and angels dance in flight;

Joy of heaven shall now unbind

Chains of evil from mankind,

Never since the world began

Such a light such dark did span.


There are also echoes of familiar passages and carols in my poem:

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.

—Isaiah 9:2

Walk in the light, beautiful light/Come where the dew-drops of mercy are bright.

—J.V. Coombs (1849-1920)

Yet in thy dark streets shineth, the everlasting light.—P. Brooks (1835-1893)

Westward leading, still proceeding
Guide us to Thy perfect light—
J.H. Hopkins (1820-1891)


Majestic is the brand name of the cookstove at the Relay Station.

Camp Douglas was located near the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. A true inland sea, it is 300 miles long and 80 miles across.