The days grow shorter and shorter, and so a reflection on the Darkness seems appropriate.

Poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was raised by Unitarian parents and strongly influenced by Unitarian minister Ralph Waldo Emerson, among other like-minded individuals, and so is often claimed as a Unitarian Universalist. Her poems are used in many modern Unitarian Universalist churches, and this one is particularly apropos at this time of year.

419

by Emily Dickinson

We grow accustomed to the Dark –
When light is put away –
As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp
To witness her Goodbye –

A Moment — We uncertain step
For newness of the night –
Then — fit our Vision to the Dark –
And meet the Road — erect –

And so of larger — Darkness –
Those Evenings of the Brain –
When not a Moon disclose a sign –
Or Star — come out — within –

The Bravest — grope a little –
And sometimes hit a Tree
Directly in the Forehead –
But as they learn to see –

Either the Darkness alters –
Or something in the sight
Adjusts itself to Midnight –
And Life steps almost straight.

Source: Poem 419 by Emily Dickinson, via Google Books, Emily Dickinson, selected poems, pg 57.

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