Dickens was probably speaking of 'Hidden Light' when he wrote as follows to Wills on 12 August 1854: 'I have bothered and worried at the Poem (which is neither English, nor verse) hoping to make something of it, but have not succeeded after all. Strike it out. If I can fuse into it an idea I have of its natural end, you shall have it in the next parcel. If you hear no more of it, give it up as unmendable.'
According to the Office Book, 'Hidden Light' is the only Household Words poem with Dickens as joint author. Perhaps the last three stanzas are by him.

Harry Stone; © Bloomington and Indiana University Press, 1968. DJO gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce this material.