Wednesday, January 5, 2011

afterglow

candles
hold the moment
on winter evenings

dimming the light
softening the edges
drawing everything
that much closer


close enough
to gather the little clues
and fold them together

you see

to see
by the light of a candle

you have to want to see


32 comments:

aguja said...

Candles do 'hold the moment' as do your words. I was encapsulated by them as I absorbed them. This poem is beautifully created and yes, you do have to want to see.

I love the photos that you have chosen to illuminate your words.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Yes - very true steven - unlike the days when it was candle or nothing.

Dulçe ♥ said...

And you get to see what you want or you let your eyes go with the dimming light so as to get back you what you see inside...
Powerful and at the same time gently soft words you write Steven.


Dulce

all ways 11 o'clock said...

wonderful combination.
Thank you for sharing.

~robert

steven said...

aguja - my christmas cactus flowered and so i surrounded the flower with shiny beads. at night the colours and forms soften and especially by candlelight. i like the subtlety. steven

steven said...

ahhh weaver - in a farm high on the dales by candlelight. what a very different time and place that would be. steven

steven said...

yes dulce - candlelight adds to the power of suggestion - from outside and inside! it alters time and space. steven

steven said...

hello robert and thankyou for your kind comment. steven

Reya Mellicker said...

I am smiling. I love candlelight. My teachers used to say that the flame from a candle "pierces through all the boundaries, connects all the realms." I know exactly what they mean. When I finally blow out the candles in my "fireplace" it's as if someone has left the room.

steven said...

reya - beautiful words from your teachers. lovely. when i light a candle it's as if something enters the room. blowing out candles - so entirely different to switching off a light. something does leave. steven

Golden West said...

So true, Steven!

Unknown said...

I think if I had lived in a time when the only way I could see at night was to make my own candles, that sense of something coming and going would probably be way more profound. The sense of "magic" that light brings forth in the dark of night would be much more real. My tendency to depend on electric switches gives light a more "purposeful" entity and less of a mystical one. But any light in the darkness of a night time world is magic and mystical. Thank you for reminding me to treasure it Steven. I love your presentation here.

Titus said...

you have to want to see

Profound, steven, and I shall try and remember those six words this year.

Jo said...

You light the candle for us with every poem you write. Thank you for sharing your light.

Linda Sue said...

Candle light is comfy, takes us back. I have lived without electricity a good part of this life, making the most of daylight, sewing-reading by candle light- settling. I am especially fond of the glow and the flicker, the way the flame becomes a being on the wick.The way it becomes a metaphor for an entire lifetime.

Friko said...

and when you want to see you see so much more clearly.

You have such lovely ideas and know how to execute them.

Lisa Ursu said...

I want to see!
I want to see!

Beautiful, wonderful post steven.

steven said...

golden west - truth is good! steven

steven said...

linda your words make me think back to my first year in canada when my class went to pioneer village up on black creek. we made candles and it was like a door opened in that experience for me. i have loved candles all my life. i would happily live in a cnalde-lit home. you know, good candles with hurrican lanterns and whatever else it took so i could still see but so there was mystery about that little part of my world. steven

steven said...

titus - i know that you do see. i've read your words. steven

steven said...

jo - i think of my self as the candle and my visitors as the spark. the flame we share! steven

steven said...

linda sue - i've always preferred ambient lighting - although when i paint i prefer bright light that tells the story of the colours and the shapes honestly. candles open the door to otherness. i like otherness. steven

steven said...

friko - because you finish them! seeing with intent is much different than seeing. you're so right! steven

steven said...

liza - you do see . . . in your own way! steven

steven said...

rosesareblue - well i do admire the sensibilities of coco chanel, and alexander mcqueen and especially karl lagerfeld but i'm not sure i want to spend a lot of time folowing the scene. thankyou for the offer! steven

Rachel Fenton said...

You can almost see the flame breathe. A beautiful post, Steven, thank you.

* said...

Candles evoke a certain quietness that exudes in this poem.

Pauline said...

"to see
by the light of a candle

you have to want to see"

Sometimes the way you see things takes my breath away

steven said...

rachel thankyou. steven

steven said...

terresa yes - i think of them as stilling the space. steven

steven said...

pauline - be sure to breathe, we need you!!! steven

Dan Gurney said...

Candle flames dance and
bend to illumined breath and
bodies passing by.