"fit our Vision to the Dark"

a poem for the election season by Emily Dickinson

May your hope localize like a durable native groundcover.
May you grow a protective cocoon when you need one.
May the structures of government transform.
May the dark yield new directions.

Wall painting on black ground: supports with entrablature, from the imperial villa at Boscotrecase, Pompeii, Roman, last decade of the 1st century BCE

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We Grow accustomed to the Dark
by Emily Dickinson

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.

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Creative Invitations

1
Choose one word you want to burn. Which word could burn long enough to keep you nourished in the dark? Which word would give you good, silky ashes to rub? Which word do you want to do away with completely, incinerate? Which word can you use as a trusty lamp?

2
Which darkness have you entered—so deeply as to hit a tree with your face—and what has that darkness adjusted in your sight, taught you to see?

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