Advent.
Once a year
the chance to wait
with a purpose.
Makes a change.
Carlyn Morris
Carrying a candle
Carrying a candle
from one little place of shelter
to another
is an act of love.
To move through the huge
and hungry darkness, step by step,
against the invisible wind
that blows forever round the world,
carrying a candle,
is an act of foolhardy hope.
Surely it will be blown out:
the wind is contemptuous,
the darkness cannot comprehend it.
How much light can this tiny flame shed
on all the great issues of the day?
It is as helpless as a newborn child.
Look how the human hand,
that cradles it, has become translucent:
fragile and beautiful; foolish and loving.
Step by step.
The wind is stronger than this hand,
and the darkness infinite
around this tiny here-and-now flame
that wavers, but keeps burning:
carried with care
through an uncaring world
from one little place of shelter to another.
An act of love.
The light shines in the darkness
and the darkness can never put it out.
Jan Sutch Pickard
Those are really good poems. I esp. like the line 'makes a change.' Makes me think. :<) And you know what the second one brought to mind? The way people waved lighters at concerts (now cell phones, i think) which I've always felt to be very meaningful, sometimes poignant depending on the song. I like the hopefulness of that gesture and the Pickard poem. Thanks so much.
ReplyDelete"Makes a change" was the line that struck me, too, Nan.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought of the lighters at concerts but you have something there. The first time I experienced that was many years ago at a Pink Floyd concert. Everyone stood up and someone handed me a lighter so that I could join in, it was a very poignant moment.
Lovely poems and photograph...a nice moment of reflection Thank you :0)
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