Why I Tend Your Flame
why return always
to this endless
ritual
of nineteen days
plus one
(on the twentieth
day of the cycle
when each sister
has had her turn
you keep your
flame alive
(in the evening
of the following day
you offer me the
glowing coal
to kindle
my own small fire)
I am so forgetful
I strike the
match
and before the
wick is blackened
I am a thousand
miles away
planning worrying
angry wishful
hurrying to
accomplish this and that
if I am so very
forgetful
why return
in that moment
when I take a
breath
place the candle
in its lantern
lantern in its
cauldron
pour water clean
and fresh
around its base
when I add the
blue juniper
whisper words of
honouring
of sharing and of blessing
of request
when I open my
hands to receive
your eye-bright
coal
my heart opens
with them
I glimpse this
wider land
this wider life
come closer
for one fraction
of a second
awake
this is your gift
to me
mine to you
is to return
again and again
to this moment of
ignition
in my soul
