Elegy For My Candle

Personifying the fantasy of one’s inanimate traveling companion begs a strange, but loving closure. (Photo by Karen Ruimy)

Elegy For My Candle
                by Odin Roark

How regal your stature has been
Your stalwart frame
Ever remaining at the ready
Patiently waiting to live out
Your inner tether
Your heart’s offering
To a romantic’s touch

You’ve served me well
Been carried to cabin
Backpacked to basecamp
Returned with me
To nestle beside my hand
Pen
Paper
Our home

Yes

You’ve succumbed to gravity
Like this aging body of mine
Both aware time melts away
Having given space to breathe

For being my breath of luminance
For embracing the flame
For sacrifice
For selfless giving
Even now in your final hours
For that
I thank you

Without your lighthouse guidance
My journey’s dreams
Might have been lost to murky despair

How giving you’ve been
Allowing your body to dwindle
By flame’s consuming needs
And now…

The end must be painful
Your warm tears pooling
Their final remembrance
As our room becomes dim

So comforting to know
The offspring of your light
Will remain fixed
Ink upon paper
Word upon word
Pain upon pain
Joy upon joy

Can you stay just…