Writing By Candlelight

 

You repeated countless times,

“Turn on the light”, you said,

“You’ll ruin your eyes like that”

and while I’ll never know why

my eyes rotted in my head,

I’m in your debt for dragging

at least the quandary into the light.

 

Why do we chose to spend the

few moments we have alone with

our skin and thoughts in the dark?

Evening tv as a child, clandestine

night reading followed by collapse

in an not-so-easy chair with a beer.

I once thought it was to hide from

the world, pulling the blanket of

blank nothingness up to my nose.

Itchy anonymous security, beneath

which was me, beneath it no gavel

sound of a mob of downward thumbs.

 

But now, years and beers later, sitting

in a disciplined chair at a simple pine

table, a glass of ruby Chianti sweating

beside a low, broad candle admiring

its own reflection, I know I was wrong

as you were, the darkness a fool’s

hiding place for where we’re all waiting.

That’s why we must go there sometimes

eyes wide open, least they cloud over

with the distortion of day, least our eyes

rot in our heads.

Reviews

[Sami Khalil]

Asplendid poem , sir...Thank you for penning...:)

[nonno noo]

This is an excellent piece.

I'm particularly fond of "the darkness a fool’s

hiding place for where we’re all waiting."

[Nikki Richardson]

I adore the imagery you put into your poetry.
It's kind of like you can see exactly what you're
talking about.

[.n.]

Your last stanza has such precise imagery, I can almost see that speaker sitting at my table. Lovely piece.

[annie minus]

Excellent write, I love it's depth and meaning, I particularly like "Pulling the blanket nothingness up to my nose" -very well written. Annie :)