Give Thanks For Darkness

Remember that old song, The Quartermaster's Store, where you could find mice nesting in the rice and snakes as big as garden rakes and Lew spitting in the stew and Bert finishing off dessert? Let's sing the chorus:

My eyes are dim, I cannot see,
I have not brought my specs with me.
I have not brought my specs... with... me.

Wasn't that fun! Well, maybe some of you didn't go to summer camp. So you don't remember how glad we were, after singing that yucky song, to get something edible for supper.

Guess what. My eyes are dim and specs don't help much anymore. You too? OK. Us geezers have to stick together. One thing we learn as vision fades, is to make the most of what we can see. When bright light combined with cloudy lenses washes out everything on the computer screen in a milky haze, we switch to white text on a dark background. It helps. 

For what is printed white on white
cannot be read, though true.
Nor any text inspire delight
as bright hue on bright hue. 

So look for stars no more at noon
nor yet in moonlit glow.
A midnight sky, an absent moon,
a universe shines through.

Give thanks for darkness.

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Also give thanks for dark news drawing attention to brighter news. Earth's Vital Signs: Benjamin Shingler, Anand Ram, Wendy Martinez, CBC News, October 8, 2024.