Candle Poem by Beatrice Preti

A single candle shines
For a single soul
like a shrine
It flickers with each gust of wind
And burns away a life of sins
Leaving nothing but the purest flesh
Inside a coffin to be laid to rest
And all the people all around
Are crying
as they crowd around the hallowed ground
I don’t share the tears they cry
I keep my head tilted
up, towards the sky
The sky where the sun brightly shines
A tribute to living, God’s own shrine
And all around, my breath’s in clouds,
The coffin lowers into the ground
I don’t watch, I don’t want to see
The people crying
all around me
So I close my eyes, and hear the bells
Ringing somberly, a death march, a knell
Snow starts to fall, and the candle blows out
My breath catches, and the tears fall out