# “On His Blindness” by John Milton

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2008/12/09/on-his-blindness-by-john-milton/
- Published: 2008-12-09T10:13:30-06:00
- Author: tollelege

“On His Blindness”
 By John Milton

When I consider how my light is spent
 Ere 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, lest he returning
chide, “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?” 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 mild yoke, they serve him best. His state Is kingly; thousands
at his bidding speed And post o’er land and ocean without rest: They also serve 
who only stand and wait.”

–John Milton, “On His Blindness” in _Bartlett’s Poems for Occasions_, Eds. Geoffrey
O’Brien and Billy Collins (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2004), 194.

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