Shadows,
dark silhouettes,
flickering candle casts them,
the ambience of a dark room,
in a relaxed setting.
agate
flame of rich hues
bestows warm and serene moods
hinders light for his own body
an upright altruist
PLACE: 2 nd
We are but a Flickering Flame —
In a Brief — uncertain — Light —
That leans against Eternity —
Then vanishes — from Sight —
Yet while the little Lantern burns —
It warms the Hands of Men —
And leaves upon the Darkened Air —
A Glow — remembered — then —
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The mind is a moth
trapped between window and lamp~
beating its wings against the glass
but never quite reaching the light.
Some days, it’s a candle
snuffed by the slightest breath,
only to flare again
when no one is watching.
Other times, it’s a projector
spooling broken film~
faces without names,
names without faces,
scenes that dissolve.
And in the dark,
when the body is still,
it becomes a switchboard
of crossed wires~
static hissing,
connections missed,
a voice on the line
that never quite says
what you thought it would.
But sometimes, just sometimes~
it is the spark
that catches the tinder,
the thought that burns
clean through the night.
Is there any life vibrating nigh more
Than of youthful love holding mutual hands--
Spirited love of hearts that founts from core
Of twosome exploring still old dreamlands?
That of an old couple I saw once when
On a seashore-- life’s tide waiting to die,
Still keen to walk together far as can,
A lifetime of journey’s end looms when nigh,
Geriatric hands too gnarled, yet clasping firm,
Their wrinkled visage still so radiant,
Hearts beating slow and pulse unsure to come,
Northward bound still their fondness’ gradient,
Let youthful love be a nigh bit selfish,
The old one has no angle to catch fish.
____________________________
Sonnet | 09.12.2008 | love, old, youthful
Note: An unusual sonnet, the first four lines, a quatrain, asks a question and then a Volta happens. All the remaining ten lines seek an answer, and the ending couplet seems to resolve.
The light in my eyes eventually died down,
It was nothing more than a split, but
Even that can be put out.
He thought he was a star
When he got a little fame
"Andy Warhol's fifteen minutes came."
As he flickered in illusion's jar
Many women flocked to his starry glow
As his wife played second fiddle
Then his lovers solved the riddle
And that was the end of the show
He was just a firefly in fame's vast universe
and of course, it showed
His star began to implode
As it orbited in reverse
Soon that star will fall from the sky
For stardom is a fickle game
You can watch those fifteen minutes of fame
Burning up as it goes by
I am a flickering light -
a little candle -
a dancing flame so happy to have been set alight!
But I am fragile, Father.
A sudden gust could blow me out.
A brief shower of rain.
A spiteful touch from cold fingers.
A swell of noxious pride at my own tiny mortal beauty.
So hold me very close, Father.
Shield me with your mighty, gentle hand.
Be patient with me as only you could be.
For I am a forgetful and unfaithful little heart.
But, at least for a moment,
I can offer you my sincere desire to love you,
though I fear that I hardly have the power to love at all.
But you make all things new.
Written in Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart
2025-08-22
started before noon, finished by 12:04 PM.
WATCHING FLICKERING FLAMES-TSF
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
amber
beacon
flickers,
offers
comfort
and hope,
time roams.
I watch
flames leap
candle
takes me
back in
time to
my home.
I hear
echoes,
voices
from past
from those
long since
deceased.
I smell
mother,
her scent
wafting
through time’s
boundless
retreat.
FLICKERING CANDLES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the flickering candle
stands alone on the table,
a small sentinel of warmth,
its golden glow spilling over its edges.
the air thickens around it;
within its amber light
time slows,
each shadow a memory.
this flickering beacon,
this symbol of hope,
speaks in the language of light
and remembrance.
the flickering candle takes me back in time,
reminding me of evenings spent in laughter,
of the scent of cinnamon and pine, and
the echoes of voices long since passed.
I watch in reverent silence, entranced,
as the flame leaps and sways,
a tiny sun, defying the encroaching dark,
reminding me of all that was, and all that still is—
we soften attention
ego thins out
wisdom downloads follow
erasing doubt
kundalini rises
we enter the void
bliss is enabled
in pure heart unalloyed
stillness deepens
light of Self is revealed
though we know who we are
heart is not fully healed
completion awaits
as we come undone
our heart intuits
God and we are one
made in God’s image
we are living light
His presence is sensed
in bliss beats that delight
be this as it may
even as we burn
for the quietus
we await our turn
Fade into the void,
pale and unseen,
a whisper of silence,
dim murmured echo.
Unheard and unremarked,
an absent fragment,
of drifting haze,
that lingers unseen.
Fragile, easily shattered,
weightless and distant,
an obscure hollow,
of faint gray dust.
Blurred empty thought,
foggy and fractured,
like an unfelt sigh,
flickering invisible in the murk.
O veiled shadow
of former self,
ashen phantom
of better days,
am I but a fleeting shade,
doomed by fate
to wilt and wane,
and fray at the edges,
to shiver and wilt,
until vanishing,
simply disappear?
Not even a glimmer
of self remains.
How did the sea become a crime?
How did its blue become a bruise on the face of history?
How did the verdure turn into red wrath,
breathing fire into burned hearts,
leaving behind it a black, frosty funeral?
How did the tree become a Fury?
Her strands of fire
strewn above the dew and tranquil mounts
Furious fire and melted iron
Lava and blood-red ink
Pumping out of the wounded bosom of the earth
Bubbling up like the foam of death
To carve an unprecedented story;
A story of a dying profound pain, reborn
In the same womb, at the same moment
Growing as rapidly as the pulsating heart of a child in terror
Lost in the land of infinite wars.
***
My land, a flickering ember
Once giving light and warmth;
The other, singeing our hearts;
Do you choose to be a beacon in the dark,
or to blow up in our faces like a blind flame of wrath?
Are you destined to turn into ash
disarrayed by the wind?
***
People might claim that the earth is not for all
But the heavens are inevitably for all
The living, the dead, the imprisoned
Happy, grieving, immersed in prayer,
For the heavens are in the hands of God the just
Never to be touched by human slaves
In a universe of lights flickering on the edge of consciousness,
The desire to possess becomes a hypnotic melody, cold and painful,
Binding our souls to the shape of objects, captives under a mechanized sky,
Where the thirst to consume flows through veins, a "biological" need that consumes us.
The market, a labyrinth of exploitation, weaves the unseen class structure,
Advanced capitalism hides its fangs under a technological veil,
Transforming class interests into glittering commodities, their enchanting shine,
And it is not the machines that suppress dreams, but the unseen masters who decide their numbers.
It is necessary to remind that science and technology are couriers of liberation,
Only their use in a repressive society makes them tools of domination,
In a world where the sky is covered with endless desires, we find ourselves captive,
Seeking answers in the darkness, melancholic dreamers on the sea of illusion.
It’s hard to live when you feel like your time has already passed,
it’s like dragging your life from the grave each day
I keep asking God to rescue me,
but the darkness covers his love
I feel so hollow
like I’m curled up in the fetal position in the corner of a dark room
Overwhelmed by a deep nondescript apprehension,
and the fear that nothing matters
And then the panic sets in,
It makes me want to scream
But I don’t see the point,
it won’t change anything
Yet here I am keeping up appearances just like you,
smiling and laughing like it’s all ok but in truth, it’s hard to breathe
It’s all so heavy now that I can’t lift my heart
My knees are weak and bleeding,
but I’m still crawling
Crawling down a dark and broken path,
toward your flickering candle
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