Why T. Thomas Fortune’s “Beyond the Veil” Still Matters in a Modern World
We all chase sunbeams—fleeting moments of joy that slip through our fingers—but does their disappearance make the chase meaningless?
Beyond the Veil
Timothy Thomas Fortune
Across our path a sunbeam gently lies;
We know not whence it came; we think we know;
But, as we watch its glories come and go,
It fades away! Whither? Into the skies?
We seek to follow it, with blinking eyes,
Beyond the Veil—of which we nothing know!
But e’en imagination is too slow
To chase a sunbeam as it heavenward flies.
The fairest and the dearest objects fade,
Just as a sunbeam comes and glides away;
But, e’en while lingering in the gloom and shade,
Struggling through sorrow’s night into the day,
We feel “’tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved”—whate’er the cost.
Finding Light in the Fade: Lessons from T. Thomas Fortune’s “Beyond the Veil”
Timothy Thomas Fortune’s “Beyond the Veil” is a poignant meditation on the fleeting nature of beauty and the enduring strength of the human spirit. Using the metaphor of a sunbeam, Fortune captures the frustration of trying to grasp the divine or the departed—moments of “glory” that vanish just as we begin to understand them.
In today’s fast-paced, digital world, we often struggle with a different kind of “fading.” We chase temporary trends and curated perfections, only to feel the “gloom and shade” when they inevitably disappear. Fortune’s poem reminds us that contemporary life isn’t about capturing the light forever; it’s about the courage to value the experience itself. In an era of instant gratification, the poem’s core message—borrowing from Tennyson—insists that the pain of loss is a small price to pay for the profound gift of having loved. It encourages us to stop “blinking” in the face of the unknown and instead find peace in the transition from sorrow’s night into the day.
As you read this poem, ask yourself: Are you so focused on chasing the sunbeam “beyond the veil” that you’ve forgotten to feel its warmth while it’s still here?