Candle

I am a seething candle flame
A striving radiance that eats the air
A shadow that burns into the light
A flickering hollow, a groping flare.

I am a rider who rides
A black-maned fiery mare
A hooded, faceless silence
In a vault of glowing air.

I am a longing that burns
A hollowness that eats the night
A pulsing in the darkness
An arrow of golden light.


—Eric Nelson