Darkness and
Shadows
a
transcription from the French of C. F. C.
Through
smiling meadows ripening into gold
And flowers
engendered in new life and beauty
I wandered
lithlessly. On every side
The hand
beneficient of labour ruled;
And
everywhere the people well content
With
Nature's gifts prolific, nothing more
Desired, nor
tempted Sorrow with the search
For things
unprofitable, vain, obscure.
In harmony and the celestial peace of love
They lived:
and thriving reaped the fruits of toil.
They knew
not envy, hatred nor despair;
Nor chained
their minds to the dull misery
Of
discontent, distrust and little faith.
Mercy and
virtue, strength and hope were theirs;
Their minds
in splendour shone alike the Sun.
Behold however darkness seized the earth.
Darkness
interminable, awful night,
And opaque
shadows veiled the light of day.
Deep night
like that which lay upon the seas
In the
beginning of the World and Time;
Deep night
that tamed the wild beasts of the field
Dismally
wailing in the convert woods;
Deep night
confounding into one all hues;
Deep night
and endless driving men to madness,
Making them
blind and sorrowful to death.
And thereupon the multitudes began
In
lamentations to reproach the Lord
With his
injustice, speaking in this wise:
"Almighty,
thou art good and merciful;
Almighty, we
have seen and known thy love;
Almighty, we
do know thee to be just.
Shew us, o
Father, wherein lies our sin
That we may
chastise our iniquities!
An evil hour
hath meted out to us
The direct
of calamities: our babes
Are borne
into the world in darkness, blind.
Thou hast
deprived us of the fairest gift
In thy
Creation. With the breath of life
Thy love
awarded us the light of day;
But life in
darkness is akin to death:
And death we
pray Thee grant us if the light
Hath faded
from the world for evermore!"-
It came to pass that God attended them,
And thus to
the celestial Chorus spake:
"Of what
doth man complain? and whence these tears?
He hath
found favour in mine eyes. Behold
I have
awarded him the joys of Heaven,
And cleansed
his soul of its impurities.
The shadows
that erewhile his mind obscured
Have I
expelled and driven otherwhere."
But Michael mindful of man's happiness
Spake
answering: "Thy mercy's great, O Lord;
The shadows
that erewhile man's mind obscured
Hast Thou
expelled and driven otherwhere.
But lo! so
numerous were these, that now
They veil
the Sun, and their obscurity
Hath wrapt
the world in deep and endless night."
The Father of all Goodness, at these words,
Smiled, and
his Spirit bade upon the earth
Descend.
Forthwith a voice like thunder spake:
"Your vices
and your sins were numberless,
Your hearts
were hardened in iniquity,
Your minds
darkened.- These evils were ye spared;
For I have
chased the shadows, cleansed your souls.
But lo! so
numerous were they, that now
They veil
the Sun & their obscurity
Hath wrapt
the world in deep and endless night."-
Together cried the multitudes, one voice:
"Almighty,
thou art good and merciful.
Restore our
minds to darkness, but vouchsafe
The essence
of our life, the light of day!"-
And the Spirit answered: "Be it as ye will.
Behold, no
longer is the Sun obscured."-
Once more the stars shone in the firmament,
The earth
and deep lay bathed in luminence,
The mind of
man in night's obscurity!-
Κωνσταντίνος Π. Καβάφης