By Candlelight Poem by Mai Murphy Venn

I strike a match
And light those candies all.


Shadows on the wall,
Impressions from the curtains fall.
A soft breeze flows into the room,
Someone rises from the tomb,

Mummified from head to toe.
Gliding leaves sweep to and fro,
Beneath the window and outside my house;
An impulse arouses me to move like a mouse.

Quietly, softly, Tiptoe on my way,
No sleep tonight, I wait vigilantly for the day.
The old graveyard is quiet and still at last,
Gone for a while, the spirits of the past.

I watch the face of time go around,
Each hour a chime rings out a sound.
There is that beat that deafens me,
It is my heart that trolls fast and free.

The flame fades,
So ends the trial.

The dawn has come to stay awhile,
So now I rest with a tranquil smile
For the night is no friend at all
But, alas, no more shadows on the wall