I wrote this at a time when a very dear heart of mine was diagnosed with what was understood at that time to be a terrible, terminal illness. (Thankfully that person still walks this earth!) I have returned to it and offered it over the years to many who were facing fear in the face of diagnoses, illness or even impending death. My husband taped it up beside his computer when he was sick and it seemed to find new meaning during the pandemic when we were all so uncertain, so frightened and so in need of hope.
My own experiences of facing the worst have made me stubbornly determined in the face of unimaginably bad news, loss or sorrow. I remember thinking very clearly when Peter was diagnosed “Cancer, you may have barged in my door, but you do not get a seat at my table!” We do not have the power to heal all sickness, fix every hurt or keep those we love with us forever. But we have more power than we think, to make Love and Joy the heart of how we live and what we remember.
Say to the darkness,
We beg to differ*
Say to the darkness
We will wait until you’ve had your fill
And then we will come out
Into the summer sunshine
And laugh and love again, and again and again
Say to the darkness,
We beg to differ
We are too beautiful
It is too precious
There are hours, days, years to be filled
With beauty, with love, with life
Say to the darkness,
We beg to differ
Even in our weakness
We will be stronger
We will laugh you away
We will giggle when you tell us
To be quiet and pay attention and take it seriously
Or, when we must
We will stay up with you all night
Nursing you like a sick child
Patiently waiting for streaks of dawn
To light the morning sky
We will lay a thousand candles at your feet
We will light up the night sky
We will tend the embers till morning
Say to the darkness,
We beg to differ
Love is on our side
We cannot lose.
* The title of this poem is a tribute to a book written by Dr. Mary Jo Leddy