Gothic Light

If you are to get the full enjoyment of Chartres, you must, for the time, believe in Mary as Bernard and Adam did, and feel her presence as the architects did, in every stone they placed, and every touch they chiselled. You must try first to rid your mind of the traditional idea that the Gothic is an intentional expression of religious gloom. The necessity for light was the motive of the Gothic architects. They needed light and always more light, until they sacrificed safety and common sense in trying to get it. They converted their walls into windows, raised their vaults, diminished their piers, until their churches could no longer stand. You will see the limits at Beauvais; at Chartres we have not got so far, but even here, in places where the Virgin wanted it, — as above the high altar, — the architect has taken all the light there was to take. For the same reason, fenestration became the most important part of the Gothic architect’s work, and at Chartres was uncommonly interesting because the architect was obliged to design a new system, which should at the same time satisfy the laws of construction and the taste and imagination of Mary. No doubt the first command of the Queen of Heaven was for light, but the second, at least equally imperative, was for colour. Any earthly queen, even though she were not Byzantine in taste, loved colour; and the truest of queens — the only true Queen of Queens — had richer and finer taste in colour than the queens of fifty earthly kingdoms, as you will see when we come to the immense effort to gratify her in the glass of her windows. Illusion for illusion, — granting for the moment that Mary was an illusion, — the Virgin Mother in this instance repaid to her worshippers a larger return for their money than the capitalist has ever been able to get, at least in this world, from any other illusion of wealth which he has tried to make a source of pleasure and profit.

— Henry Adams, Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres (1913)

The full text can be found here.

To Know the Dark

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

— Wendell Berry, “To Know the Dark”

This fierce willingness to see everything is necessary to be fully present within the fulness of reality. It is necessary so that we do not wither in the face of confrontation. We must see suffering if we are to soothe wounds. And we must recognize cruelty that we may protect the vulnerable. To summon strength, we must recognize that conditions require strength. To express kindness and connection, we must see clearly who has been labeled an outsider.

— Ivan M. Granger, “Wendell Berry — To Know the Dark” posted on “Poetry Chaikhana Blog” (www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2017/02/01/wendell-berry-to-know-the-dark/)

Good Morning

Below globe’s edge the sun still hid
But sky was glowing bright
And a thousand birds raised a raucous cheer
To greet the close of night
— Koppantó

Illumination

As I grow old, will wisdom someday come?
Will illumination hold my hand?
Will it blind me if it does?

The Light Within My Grasp

And if I do hold this light once,
How long will it remain within my grasp?