The song of the street lamp

From Grace service 'Seeking Light' December 2016

imagine you are a streetlamp
around you on every side is darkness
you can only see one or two others of your kind
your pools of light barely touch
when you look into your neighbour’s light
all you see is the rain

in summer your light was hardly needed
even the nights were never really dark

but now the dark hours outnumber the day
and even the daylight is dim
your light seems monochrome and weak
a poor substitute for the sun
it would be easy to lose hope
and to feel that it is not worth shining any more

but above you out of sight
is god and some other people
on the international space station looking down

from space our tiny lights add up to a great blaze
huge cities and great highways of light
cutting through the darkness
trapping it in a net
reducing it to manageable chunks
all that a pilgrim down on earth need do
is go from one tiny light to the next