Rage, rage Against the Dying of the Light 💡

Time held me green and dying, though I sang in my chains like the sea.

Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’ — Mary Anne Radmacher, American author and artist.

In his most famous poem, Dylan Thomas famously urged us to rage, rage against the dying of the light even in old age.

Thomas reminds us, do not go gentle into that good night.

Old age should burn and rave at the close of day, he says, but rage, rage against the dying of the light.

It’s no wonder this poem became one of the most iconic works of the 20th century.

Thomas actually wrote the poem during a family trip to Italy in 1947, just two years after World War II ended. At that time, people’s confidence and optimism were starting to fade as new challenges and threats began to emerge.

Since Dylan Thomas had suffered from chronic asthma and bronchitis since he was a child, he was rejected from military service.

But despite everything, the Welsh poet didn’t “go gentle into that good night.” The poem was actually a tribute to his father, urging him to keep fighting for life even in the face of death.

It’s also worth mentioning that Dylan Thomas fought hard throughout his life, and even death didn’t come easily to him.

“Though they go mad they shall be sane, though they sink through the sea they shall rise again; Though lovers be lost love shall not; And death shall have no dominion.” — Dylan Thomas.

Thomas is widely regarded as one of the most influential, if not the most famous, Welsh poets ever. His poetry has a modern style, even though it was influenced by surrealist poetry.

You could say that his poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night is a powerful reminder for all of us to fight against giving up, 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. Said Murphy. And you also do not want to stand still either, for there are new worlds within or 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.