My Clandestine Escape

My Clandestine Escape Candle, burning before me now, Separating me from the darkness in this room in which I sit; The flame atop your waxen column melts your existence, slowly, steadily. Your now liquefying composition dribbles silently down your side. Your lifespan is limited by time, flame, wick, and wax. Smaller, still smaller, as the minutes pass, you grow. A breeze or draft from a place unknown Causes your brilliance to flicker, Thus casting shadows of you and I dancing madly about the room. Inanimate, such is reality, I know you are, Yet your personification has become my companion, Guiding me down this neverending pathway to my escape from that within. A teardrop trickles down my cheek, as your flame, now shrinking, grows dimmer, as it dies. Now, only a hardening puddle remains before my ponderous gaze. Darkness, total darkness, now surrounds my thirsting soul. Thomas Cusick