Poem - We grow accustomed to the dark - Emily Dickinson

Poem by Emily Dickinson 

In researching some homilies this afternoon, I came across this poem by Emily Dickinson - We grow accustomed to the dark.  Sometimes when there is no light in our lives, we grow so accustomed to the darkness, that we see better in the darkness than we can in the light.  Maybe we don't think the light will ever come back again.  Maybe, if the light does come back, it blinds us so much that we cannot see again.  I know for me, there have been periods in my life that the darkness has so enveloped me, I had to consciously and physically remove myself from those experiences of darkness to return to light, and that was never easy.  

We grow accustomed to the Dark -

When Light is put away -

As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp

To witness her Good bye -

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 - Darknesses -

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.