"A Candle Allegory"

(photo by: annonymous)
I don’t know if I’d rather see
an unlit candle or one already used.
The former lacks experience.
The latter normally appears to be
afflicted by obedience
and by past flames confused.

This hyacinthian debate
adores the unpolluted waxen wick
for purity commands esteem,
without which we hallucinate.
But still we seal the stubborn brick
for dreams inlayed to dream.

There is a gnarly compromise
each candle makes when set aflame;
to change, but not to change.
It keeps the essence, though it change.
While rivulets relieve the pain,
it weeps to be the same.

Catharsis comes when tears are dried,
yet leaves the candle scared.
So now it seems that tribulation’s best.
Although allowing harm
the candle would remain unblessed
were not the flame applied.

by Wm. Rieppe Moore