CANDLE WATCHING

A WOMAN CANDLE WATCHING ONE NIGHT FEELING AND THINKING

Emily placed the candle
on the ledge of the window.
Wind blew outside, harsh,

violence in its voice. She
peered out at the night sky:
stars, silvery moon, bright

as candle flame. Out there
in space(unknown to her)
stars flared up and burnt out

to a silent death. She had
scribbled a poem, worked
it into the paper with the firm

nib, black ink as dark blood.
None shall read, she mused,
hidden away out of sight, far

from her sister's prying eyes,
Jane ambitious,outward seeking.
She watched the candle's flame

flicker in wind's kiss through
the window's crack. Inward
looking, her dark depths yet

unsounded, deep as ancient wells.
Far away echoes of inner voices.
The woman she is, the woman

who others seek or want or seek
to play. She is who she is, she
mused, unlike her sisters in whose

shadows she hides. Dark of hair
and eyes, stern and unbending as
a ship's mast, thoughts rushed then

slowed, more deeper, less fast.

Author's Note

ART BY KONRAD BAYER