My Living Lantern Poem by Egbert Simcox

A gentle flame to me you are,
One that warms, never singeing,
Heals, feeds, succors, lights my way.

In your flickering there is constancy.
An unfailing beacon your are, hope piercing
Fog, night, fear, age and time.
Children, lovers friends, and tiny angels
Gather in the globe of your sheltering heat,
Clutching your warmth, borrowing your light
For the darkness beyond.

There too am I in that awed circle,
Warmed as they by that incandescent love of yours
That kindles even as it spends,
Grows and spreads unconsumed,
Yields no ash, leaves unseared the flowered ground.

Yes, there am I, a grateful captive moon
Grown strong among the worshipping planetary shadows
Cast by the caressing rays of a tranquil star.

A tiny winged thing am I,
Fluttering raptly in your brilliance,
Basking in joy in the saving furnace of your grace,
Lighted from out of despair
By the timeless glow of that lantern your spirit ever fuels,
Seeing now all things new, transformed,
In the radiance of your healing benediction.