Within the darkness of the womb you spoke my name and let me be. The darkness was as light to you as now my light is dark to me. Teach me the measure of my days; I count them back, but cannot tell the meaning of the life you made— though I know you make all things well. Should I rise up or should I lie, or should I act or even think you know it better, Lord, than I, writ down in never-fading ink. Should I run out beyond the dawn, or turn and to the darkness speak, you know the words upon my tongue with all the clarity I seek. And when I come upon my death or sink into the realms of gloom, still do you know me in myself within the darkness of the tomb. Give me a little of your light— yourself proceeding from yourself— and break me open to my sight to know you and to know myself.
Caravaggio‘s The Calling of St Matthew uses darkness for its chiaroscuro effects. – Self-scanned, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15219497
Kate Bluett 