Picture Three

candles
light everything;
birth, consecration
death, condemnation.
and each time the flames
sway or stand still
or flicker north
away from the spirits
or to the east to embrace a spell
there’s light.
and tonight we
send forth the smoke
like a messenger
to tell the universe
that another child is born
another sister has passed
another son consecrated
another church
sentenced a sinner
to hell.

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