LEAD KINDLY LIGHT

 

 

                       

 

 

                             LEAD KINDLY LIGHT

Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on;
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet;

I do not ask to see

The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that

Thou shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead Thou me on.

 

I loved the garish day, and, spite

of fears, pride ruled my will; .

remember not past years!

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on.

O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone,
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!

 

       The prayer given above is by Cardinal Henry Newman (1801-1890). Here the poet is praying to God to guide him to move forward  because his past life has not been as holy as it should have been, and the current one is full of darkness denying him requisite light to move upward.   

      

He uses the words “the encircling gloom”, “The night is dark, and I am far from home.” “The home” here means the heavenly abode where he wants to reach, not all at once but gradually,  step by step. Very humbly does he say: I do not ask to see the distant scene,---one step enough for me.

The poet has full faith in God and says: So long hath thy power hath blest me, sure it still will lead me on, over moor and fen,over crag and torrent, till the night is gone.

 

The night symbolizes the dark night of present life. 

 

                     ****************

G.R.Kanwal

12 January 2025