Time held me green and dying, though I sang in my chains like the sea.
Imagine a world where people rage against the dying of the light. What would a world like that looks like to future generations?
Consider how the poet, Dylan Thomas frames it, In his iconic poem, “rage, rage against the dying of the light even in old age.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Old age should burn and rave at the close of day, but rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
It’s no surprise that this poem is one of the most famous poems of the 20th century.
Thomas composed the poem while out on a family trip to Italy in 1947, two years after the second world.
During that time, the people’s confidence and optimism were beginning to fade away as new challenges and threats were beginning to resurface.
Given that Thomas suffered from a chronic asthma and bronchitis disease since his early childhood, he was rejected for military services.
Though against all odds, the Welsh poet did not go gentle into that good night.
He dedicated the poem to his father — begging for him keep alive his spiritedness, for life in the face of death.
It should also be noted that Dylan Thomas fought like hell (in his own way) for years, and even dying did not come easily.
“Though they go mad they shall be sane,” writes Thomas, though they sink through the sea they shall rise again; Though lovers be lost love shall not; And death shall have no dominion.”
Thomas is considered to be one of the most influential, if not the most famous Welsh poets of all time.
His poetry is distinctly modern, even though being influenced by surrealist poetry.
One can actually say Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas is a nudge to us all to rage, rage against the dying of the light.
In her 1995 book, In High Tide in Tucson, author Barbara Kingsolver writes, “Every one of us is called upon, perhaps many times, to start a new life. A frightening diagnosis, a marriage, a move, loss of a job, a limb, or a loved one; a graduation, bringing a new baby home…’ To be hopeful, to embrace one possibility after another — that is surely the basic instinct… Time to move out into the glorious debris. Time to take this life for what it is.
“Darkness follows night,” explains the Irish author Dr. Joseph Murphy, “but morning will come again.”
“You do not want things to stand still, explains Murphy. And you also do not want to stand still either. For there are new worlds within and without to conquer.”
The goodness inside you is like a small flame, and you are its keeper.
It’s your job today and every day to make sure it has enough fuels.
And so long as your flame ignite, there will be some light in the world.
Thanks for reading.
…
