“LET THERE BE LIGHT”

 -----A Poetic Vision of Light

“Let there be light,” said God on the first day of creation, “and there was light”—so declares the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament (King James Version).

Though scientists explain light as a form of energy, as beams made of photons, it remains an enigma for many—especially when they witness the luminous heavenly bodies rising, setting, and moving across the skies.

I can still picture myself as a little girl, perched on the windowsill of the east-facing window on the top floor of my grandmother’s house, watching the sunrise over the distant hills. At first a faint reddish glow appeared, deepening into rich hues. Then the sun itself emerged above the hilltop—an orange sphere swelling in brilliance, scattering into a thousand beams, and suffusing the nearby paddy fields with a golden glow. At that age, I could neither describe the beauty of those magical moments, nor explain the deep sense of oneness with nature I felt. Poets, however, have done so with effortless grace.

Great Poems on Light

Light has always inspired poets: the radiance of dawn, the flame of truth, the glow of the soul, or the vision of divinity. Across ages and cultures, poets have sung of light as life’s essence and mystery.

Over the years, I have come across poems in different languages reflecting many facets of light. Here, I recall some of the most beautiful ones.

Hymns and Poems on the Sun, Moon, and Stars

The Sun, as life-giver and the most visible form of God, has naturally inspired some of the earliest hymns and chants.

In Indian mythology too, Surya—the Sun—is glorified in the Vedas. The Gayatri Mantra, one of Hinduism’s most revered hymns, is a prayer to the divine light of the Sun, seeking enlightenment and awakening:

“The divine light that pervades all beings in the universe,

Let it illuminate my intellect and enlighten my conscience.”

Even today, Hindus recite this mantra facing the rising sun—on riverbanks, in homes, or during prayer. Though not religious, I too recite it as part of my yoga practice each morning.

Goethe, the great German poet and scientist of colour, greets the rising sun as a life-bringer in his poem To the Rising Sun:

“Forth from the chamber of the east

The joyous sun advances;

He brings us light, and brings us life,

And wakens song and dances.”

The moon and stars have also inspired exquisite poetry. Kalidasa, in his Sanskrit masterpiece Meghdutt, writes:

“The moon, though a single orb,

scatters a thousand beams of beauty;

so does a noble soul

shine in countless hearts.”

On the stars, Sara Williams, British producer and writer, penned these lines:

“Though my soul may set in darkness,

it will rise in perfect light;

I have loved the stars too fondly

to be fearful of the night.”

From India, Sarojini Naidu in The Bird of Time praises the many faces of light:

“O splendour of the morning sky!

O hush of eve that draws us nigh,

O flame of dawn, O star of night,

We bow before thy mystic light.”

Light and Spirituality

Many poets invoke light as divine presence, a force beyond creation itself.

John Milton, in Paradise Lost, addresses Light as sacred and eternal:

“Hail, holy Light, offspring of Heaven firstborn,

Or of the Eternal co-eternal beam!”

To Emily Brontë, divine light is indestructible, transcending all worlds. In No Coward Soul Is Mine she declares:

“Though earth and moon were gone,

And suns and universes ceased to be,

And Thou wert left alone,

Every existence would exist in Thee.”

The Sufi mystic Rumi transforms light into divine healing:

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”

Poems on Natural Light

William Wordsworth, central figure of English Romanticism, saw childhood wonder shining through nature in Ode: Intimations of Immortality:

“There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,

The earth, and every common sight,

To me did seem

Apparelled in celestial light,

The glory and the freshness of a dream.”

Emily Dickinson delicately captures the fleeting glow of seasonal light in A Light Exists in Spring:

“A light exists in spring

Not present on the year

At any other period.

When March is scarcely here.”

Poems on Inner Light

For William Blake, light reveals infinite vision, as in Auguries of Innocence:

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an hour.”

 These lines reflect the inner vision of the poet.

Percy Bysshe Shelley portrays light as a fleeting visitation of beauty in Hymn to Intellectual Beauty:

“The day becomes more solemn and serene

When noon is past; there is a harmony

In autumn, and a lustre in its sky...”

Rabindranath Tagore often used light as a symbol of spiritual awakening and inner strength. In Gitanjali he writes:

“Light, oh where is the light! Kindle it with the burning fire of desire!

Let not the hours pass by in the dark. Kindle the lamp of love with thy life.”

And in another verse:

“The darkness of night is still thick, but I feel the light coming.”

Sarojini Naidu, too, merged light with national spirit. In Songs of India (On Dawn) she writes:

“See how the radiance floods the skies,

And trembling light on temples lies;

The darkness dies, the day is born,

A nation wakes to greet the morn.”

Universal Light

Across cultures, light has been revered as life’s essence:

• The Rig Veda prays: “From darkness lead me to light, from the unreal lead me to the real.”
• The Bhagavad Gita calls God “the light of all lights, beyond all darkness.”
• In Buddhist poetry, enlightenment itself is awakening into radiance.

Light in Indian Poetry Indian poetry, across Hindi, Urdu, and diverse regional languages, celebrates light not only as a physical phenomenon but also as a metaphor for wisdom, hope, and spiritual awakening.

Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala' - Tulsidas

"Awaken once again,

spread boundless light."

A stirring call to illuminate life with courage and wisdom.

Jaishankar Prasad – Kamayani

"It rose with the radiance of knowledge,

and the dense fog of doubt was gone."

Here, light becomes enlightenment, dispelling the confusion of the world.

Mahadevi Varma – Deepshikha

"O flame of the lamp, keep burning,

drive the darkness far away."

Urdu poetry carries a unique tenderness—its images of light often reach straight to the heart.

Mirza Ghalib

"From the candle of love,

My heart borrows its flame."

Allama Iqbal

Jugnoo ki roshni hai kaashana-e-chaman mein

Ya shama jal rahi hai phoolon ki anjuman mein?

(Is it the light of fireflies in the garden's abode,

Or a flame burning among a gathering of flowers?)

Zia Fatehabadi

“Look at the light arising from the East, the radiance of truth; abandon the metaphor and servitude—you are the very essence of reality”. (from his first major collection Noor-e-Mashriq (1937). These lines evoke spiritual enlightenment, urging inner truth to outshine illusions

 In Malayalam, Jnanpith awardee Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri offered a profound reflection:          "Velicham dukhamanunni, thamasallo sukhapradham’ (Light is sorrow, my son; darkness is bliss.)

 In his monumental work The Epic of the 20th Century, he writes:  

            "When once for my fellowmen

                I shed a drop of tear,

               The halo of a thousand suns

              Arises in my soul.

             When once for my fellowmen

            I expend a hearty smile."

Closing Reflection

Poets have also explored the absence of light too. Sarojini Naidu, in The Poet to Death from The Broken Wing, writes:

“Life is a prism of pure delight,

And death is only a changing light.”

Jude Simpson echoes this truth:

“Now that the lamp is burning low,

I do not fear the darkness…

for in the heart of darkness too, there is light.”

And finally, T. S. Eliot, in Four Quartets (East Coker), shows how endings prepare the stage for renewal:

“I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you

Which shall be the darkness of God.

As, in a theatre,

The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed.”

 

 From Milton’s holy beam to Rumi’s healing grace, from Wordsworth’s celestial dawn to Tagore’s inner flame, poets across centuries remind us that light is not only a natural force but also spirit, vision, renewal, and the eternal fire within us.

 

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