Though in the Orthodox Church November 1st is not our day to remember “All Saints,” I wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity the western holy day affords, especially when Anglican priest Malcolm Guite has written a fitting poem, Sonnet for All Saints Day. If you visit his site you might like to stay awhile and explore others of his lovely poems; for each one he posts an accompanying audio file of him reading his work. For that reason I’m sending you directly to his page, so you can hear the poet himself.
Gladsome Lights 
The artwork on this page is beautiful. I do appreciate your postings about these special days of the Church.
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Worth the whole poem: “They stand beside us even as we grieve”
And there’s this, about the everyday saints*: “The dark is bright / With quiet lives and steady lights undimmed”
*a phrase borrowed from Tikhon Shevkunov, monk
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I just realized whom you were referring to, the author of Everyday Saints. I learned recently that he is now Bishop Tikhon and the personal confessor of Vladimir Putin.
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I didn’t know. Thank you! Best to him.
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That was a beautiful poem. I enjoyed hearing it as I read.
Thank you ~ FlowerLady
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Oh, thank you for this poem and this website which I did not know…I especially felt drawn to:
The dark is bright
With quiet lives and steady lights undimmed,
The witness of the ones we shunned and shamed.
Plain in our sight and far beyond our seeing
He weaves them with us in the web of being.
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Yes, Joanna, I’ve followed Malcolm for 4 years. I never tire of his poetry!
Leslie
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