In fact the municipal system as at present constituted is an astonishing block of power, controlled by professionals who run the schools and the social services, and by the administrators and councillors who operate the machine in a bureaucratic darkness rarely pierced by public inspection'(Walker, 1983, p. 4).

Again shafts of light played a dramatic symphony of colour, pockets of darkness pierced by intersecting beams that washed over the brilliant yellows and reds and blues of the banks of flowers.

Then there was an image of darkness pierced by pinpoints of light.

The headlamps carved a glistening tunnel through darkness pierced with a million silver streaks of rain.

Just outside, in darkness occasionally pierced by a shaft of light from a distant air vent, Mr. Camacho cooked his meals on a campfire grill and showered under a coffee can with water he hauled and heated daily.

Farther down the hall Kamil was anxiously waiting in the darkness pierced by only a couple of candles.