a tiny radiance in a dark place

‘shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.’

Norman-ye legend-McCaig, one of my favourite poets writes one of my favourite poems called ‘Toad.’ McCaig is a master of simplicity and in this poem he writes of discovering a wee toad in his home. He compares it to a purse because there is a myth that says that toads within their little toad skulls hold a jewel.

Stop looking like a purse. How could a purse

Squeeze under the rickety door and sit,

Full of satisfaction in a man’s house?

You clamber towards me on your four corners –

Right hand, left foot, left hand, right foot.

I love you for being a toad,

For crawling like a Japanese wrestler,

And for not being frightened

I put you in my purse hand not shutting it,

And set you down outside directly under

Every star.

A jewel in your head? Toad,

You’ve put one in mine,

A tiny radiance in a dark place.’

A tiny radiance in a dark place. a TINY rAdiANce in a DarK place. A tiny radiance.

The world is a dark place. My newspaper says so, so does the television, so do the books I read, the songs I listen to, and the films I watch. Yet darkness only exists as the absence of light. Light does not rule in our world because God gave us the world and we gave it to the Devil ‘the prince of darkness.’ Yet it has not been abolished completely and one day it will reign supremely: Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.’ Philippians 2:14 Jesus called himself ‘the light of the world’ if we hold on to this word of life then we can be ‘a tiny radiance in a dark place,’ and tis comforting that even something like a creepy, ugly toad can possess a little radiance. These little thoughts are what make this poem one of me favourites.