Dear God,
Would You take Your light
a little farther away
from me?
I am like a morsel
of cinder
and need Your night
for my heart to dare
to flicker out its feeble star:
its hope, to give to other hearts,
what can be stolen from all poverty--
a gleam of joy.
by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold
Translated by Rumer Godden