The Dark Time

There's a lovely scene towards the end of Act One of Guys and Dolls when Sky Masterson and Sarah Brown have just returned home from Cuba in the small hours of the morning and Sky sings the following:

My time of day is the dark time. The moment of dusk before dawn. When the street belongs to the cop and the janitor with the mop...


As I write this it's a little after 6AM in the UK and the cloudy sky is gradually turning red as the darkness retreats. I honestly can't remember if I've ever properly watched the sunrise before. It's a beautiful phenomenon. Especially seeing the gradual increase of light in the room even as I sit typing this. I'm going to take a pause to focus on what's outside the window before I finish off this post.

A few minutes later and despite the sky still being cloud covered with dark clouds the sky has turned light blue. With the dawn of a new day comes the hope of redemption. Not a particularly original thought by any means but I'm certainly not ashamed to sound like C.S. Lewis (I suspect the thought I'm struggling to articulate has its origins way back in the mists of time probably pre-dating the ancient philosophers). Just typing the name of that great Christian apologist calls to mind a scene from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe which along with the four new testament gospels are the epitomy of redemption - I shan't describe the actual scene though, I'm sure most of us have read it and there's no need to carry coals to Newcastle.
 However I also believe redemption is a wide ranging idea which is not owned by any particular religion or philosophy. I think I shall conclude this early morning commentary with some words which were (and maybe for all I know still are) used as the opening and closing for chapel services at one of my old schools. They are a mixture of christianity and other ideas:

From the unreal lead me to the real. From darkness lead me to light. From death lead me to immortality.
May the light shows the way illuminate the mind. May the love that knows the truth unfold within the heart. May the power that gives true life arise within the soul. Let light and love and power raise all in Christ to God.