“When I Consider How My Light Is Spent” | SONNET of the week

John Milton went blind in his forties. The loss of his eyesight, "that one Talent which is death to hide," is almost certainly the subject of this sonnet. It was after Milton went blind that he wrote (dictated) Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and many other works.

When I consider how my light is spent,

  E're half my days, in this dark world and wide,
  And that one Talent which is death to hide,
  Lodg'd with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
  My true account, least he returning chide,
  Doth God exact day-labour, light deny'd,
  I fondly ask; But patience to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need
  Either man's work or his own gifts, who best
  Bear his milde yoak, they serve him best, his State
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
  And post o're Land and Ocean without rest:
  They also serve who only stand and waite.

"they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength"

Isaiah 40:31