Do Not unto the Darkness Yield

 

Do Not unto the Darkness Yield

 

(Or Be Like a Torch, Brave Candlelight)

 

Grow in resolve, good candlelight,

That has such business with the night[1]

 

Do not unto the darkness yield

What you in faith to me revealed

 

Rise high into the air and breathe,

And do not seek this world to leave,

But burn against the drafts that come

With chills, uncouth and feelings none

 

 Grow tall and true this night for me,

And grace those pages yet to be,

With every physic we can make

 

That heals the mind

And kills the snake

 

Be like a torch, brave candlelight,

That has such business with the night.

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[1] Paris was highly critical of modern literary forays into the world of spiritual mysticism because he could not rightly conceive of a “happy balance” between good and evil, order and chaos, etc. According to him, the “business” light has with darkness involves eradicating what is malignant, not merely exposing what is hidden. Moreover, he believed that darkness is God’s primary enemy and the central obstacle in man’s quest for union with Him.