When I Consider How My Light is Spent
John Milton (1608-1674) is arguably one of the greatest of English poets. He was a man of letters, a philosopher, a champion for free thought in an age of intolerance. He had a sharp mind and a deep yearning for spiritual growth. His first choice of possible career was a spiritual one. He never lost this deep yearning.
He was recognised as a great thinker and writer. It was not only his poetry that received wide acclaim, but he also wrote pamphlets to promote the cause of England.
John Milton started losing his sight at a relatively early age. By the age of 46 years, he was completely blind. He wrote his thoughts down in poetry and they survive today as some of the greatest poems in the English language.
Below is a reflective poem of loss, of the sense of failure and the final day of reckoning. It is Milton’s poem of his journey into the wilderness. It is also a poem that still talks today of profound loss and a search for meaning.
When I consider how my light is spent, Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, And that one Talent which is death to hide Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present My true account, lest he returning chide; "Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?" I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need Either man's work or his own gifts; who best Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed And post o'er Land and Ocean without rest: They also serve who only stand and wait."
Milton recognises that his greatest talent is ‘lodged with me useless’. He refers to the biblical parable of the talents, Matthew 25:14-30. His fear is God’s wrath on his return in the ‘Second Coming’.
Milton’s journey into the wilderness of his own blindness opens a different understanding of God’s love. He does not need, ‘man’s works’. He needs a willingness to bear the pain, the mild yoke.
Milton’s experience touches on the fears and sufferings of many who are burdened with the loss of health, or the ability to function productively. We live in a world that links doing to esteem, status and worth. John Milton shows us that our journey into the wilderness of acceptance is a journey of the soul.
