Tallow In The Snow Poem by Mark. A Heathcote

A candlestick must be lit before you go.
It must be placed in the melting snow.
There you'll watch the shadows dance.
And watch its melting tallow drip, perchance.

You imagine all life must quiver in its glow.
Till the wick no longer administers a deathblow
There you'll watch the moonlight meander.
Quicksilver in a river, flaming like an oleander

There, too, will you dare touch the orange flame?
And call upon what little beast you sadly tame.
To rage against the cold and forbid it to melt
There too will you open your heart and be smelt

Smelted into a fire, liquid gold full of desires.
There too will your fire dance in the briers
Melted ore, put to the blacksmith's many hammers
And then maybe you'll be the cat's pyjamas.