i sit here in the darkness
silent as the city noise
streams through my open window
this is not a night
of knowing what to say
so i stay speechless
struck dumb by what
i do not understand
i cannot fathom
that which is unfathomable
i cannot imagine
a bottomless pain
i cannot envision hell
to do its horror justice
human anguish alone
i cannot conquer
a Divine descent,
beyond conceiving
but —
the most blessed
of conjunctions —
but Yours was not
a descent destined
to end in decay
and the demolition
of eternal despair
Yours instead
was a breech
of hellish gates
a rout of death
a vanquishment
of corrupting sin
o death, where is your victory?
o death, where is your sting?
death made no reply
in the face
of endless life
and dark was pierced
by pierced hands
that formed
unending light
the Light came
into the darkness
and the darkness had
no ability to understand
only scream and shrink
away, defeated
the Light
was the Life of men
and in the present tense
in the darkness
even in the blackest night
not lit by stars
in the hinterlands
of hope past all
ability to care
even there
the Light is.
