{"id":4693,"date":"2006-04-05T12:47:24","date_gmt":"2006-04-05T16:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=4693"},"modified":"2015-05-20T10:25:09","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T14:25:09","slug":"they-also-serve-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=4693","title":{"rendered":"“They also serve”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In honor of National Poetry Month<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I do not know how to preface this poem. It is one of the most powerful poems I have ever read.<\/p>\n

John Milton was going blind. He wrote this sonnet “on his blindness”.<\/p>\n

On His Blindness <\/b>
\nby John Milton<\/i><\/p>\n

When I consider how my light is spent,
\nEre half my days, in this dark world and wide,
\nAnd that one Talent which is death to hide,
\nLodg’d with me useless, though my Soul more bent
\nTo serve therewith my Maker, and present
\nMy true account, least he returning chide,
\nDoth God exact day-labour, light deny’d,
\nI fondly ask; But patience to prevent
\nThat murmur, soon replies, God doth not need
\nEither man’s work or his own gifts, who best
\nBar his milde yoak, they serve him best, his State
\nIs Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
\nAnd post o’re Land and Ocean without rest:
\nThey also serve who only stand and waite.<\/p>\n

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