Sometimes, O Lord, thou lightest in my head <br />A lamp that well might pharos all the lands; <br />Anon the light will neither rise nor spread: <br />Shrouded in danger gray the beacon stands! <br /> <br />A pharos? Oh dull brain! poor dying lamp <br />Under a bushel with an earthy smell! <br />Mouldering it stands, in rust and eating damp, <br />While the slow oil keeps oozing from its cell! <br /> <br />For me it were enough to be a flower <br />Knowing its root in thee, the Living, hid, <br />Ordained to blossom at the appointed hour, <br />And wake or sleep as thou, my Nature, bid; <br /> <br />But hear my brethren in their darkling fright! <br />Hearten my lamp that it may shine abroad <br />Then will they cry-Lo, there is something bright! <br />Who kindled it if not the shining God?<br /><br />George MacDonald<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/let-your-light-so-shine/
