Sleep, my child, and peace attend thee
All through the night;
Guardian angels God will send thee
All through the night.
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,
Hill and vale in slumber sleeping,
I my loving vigil keeping,
All through the night.
While the moon her watch is keeping
All through the night;
While the weary world is sleeping
All through the night.
Over thy spirit gently stealing,
Visions of delight revealing,
Breathes a pure and holy feeling,
All through the night.
Traditional Welsh Carol
The heavens are telling the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth
and their words to the end of the world.
In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens
and its circuit to the end of them,
and nothing is hid from its heat.
Psalm 19:1-6 NRSVue
A couple of weeks after our return from Newfoundland in late September I heard a wonderful piece on CBCs Radio's The Current (here I go again) called 'Noctalgia' for the loss of dark skies. The three guests, Aparna Venkatesan, Roland Dechesne, and Dani Robertson, were from California, Alberta, and Wales, respectively. All are involved in pondering the disappearance of the night sky due to light pollution around the world.
We'd just spent two weeks on Change Islands in the north Atlantic where an important aspect of our visits is enjoying the Milky Way in a place where there is very little light pollution. We have noticed that more people on the cove where we stay have installed security lights and wondered why. And during this stay the nights were overcast and we didn't have a single experience of visible planets, or that milky swath, or the Northern Lights. We experienced noctalgia, a variation of nostalgia, using the Latin "nox", which is night, to describe the sense of loss and grief when the night sky is no longer a part of our lives.
All The Current guests were thoughtful, but I was particularly intrigued by Dani Robertson who lives adjacent to the only Dark Sky Sanctuary in Europe and is the Dark Sky officer for Wales, with a job description which says, "I protect darkness." In the interview she says:
It's one of the very few places left where total natural darkness still exists. So I can see that from my bedroom window. And essentially it's literally just across the sea from me. And the skies are so bright. They're so bright, the stars so bright that the Milky Way, it can cast a shadow. So when I'm stood on the beach and I'm looking up at the night sky, the light from the Milky Way casts a shadow on the ground.
Ynys Enlii
Ynys Enlli, the island which is the sanctuary( also known as Bardsey Island) was once home to monks and is called the "island of 20,000 saints". It is the legendary burial place of Merlin. I wonder if the brilliance of the night sky was part of the spiritual experience of the monastic life.
Robertson has written a book which I now covet called All Through the Night. It took me a few days to wake up to the title, which is also the name of a 19th century Welsh Christmas carol. Was that lovely hymn the inspiration for the book title? Ruth and I both know the hymn and I've been whistling it since then. I don't think it's in any of our United Church hymn books, so why is it part of our musical repertoire?
As many readers will know, I do feel that experiencing the night sky is a gift from the Creator as well as a necessary part of the balance of the natural world. And while I do live with a degree of noctalgia I will always savour the moments when the "heavenly heavens" are revealed. Now folks, look up, look way up...
Deep the silence round us spreading,
All through the night;
Dark the path that we are treading,
All through the night.
Still the coming day discerning,
By the hope within us burning,
To the dawn our footsteps turning,
All through the night.
Star of Faith the dark adorning,
All through the night;
Leads us fearless toward the morning,
All through the night.
Though our hearts be wrapped in sorrow,
From the home of dawn we borrow,
Promise of a glad tomorrow,
All through the night.
2 comments:
Thank you for this, David. I have never seen all of the words to this evening hymn . They are beautiful and very comforting .
They are meaningful words and remarkably current given that they were written more than a century ago. Thanks Judy.
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