CANDLE FLAME
She stands off-center atop the round
table. She is enshrouded by wax
the color of plum caramel and
tonight I am lucky.
I catch her, peek-a-boo, dancing up
and down like tiny shocks sparking
after the carpet rub, after your head tugs
through the woolen sweater hole.
Her glow is full, illuminating every particle
in sight; refracting as a snake swaying on
the wall clobbering shadows with the tenacity
of the sun.
In her dance dies my winter despair. My eyes
kiss her fire. Our hot tongues lock.
Holy Holy Holy the stones sing as they tumble
off my back. Tonight I take off
my shoes and sleep
the sleep that dreams no dreams for I know
the Shekinah has come
to rest.
December, 1991.
Shekinah is the female manifestation of God in man, the divine indwelling. In the Kabbalah, she is the 10th sefira Malkuth, otherwise the Queen. The creation of the world was, according to The Zohar, the work of the Shekinah. In The New Testament sense, she is the glory emanating from God, His effulgence.
CANDLE FLAME
She stands off-center atop the
round table. She is enshrouded
by wax the color of plum
caramel and tonight I am lucky.
I catch her, peek-a-boo, dancing
up and down like tiny shocks
sparking after the carpet rub,
after your head tugs through the
woolen sweater hole.
Her glow is full, illuminating
every particle in sight; refracting
as a snake swaying on the wall
clobbering shadows with the
tenacity of the sun.
In her dance dies my winter
despair. My eyes kiss her fire.
Our hot tongues lock.
Holy Holy Holy the stones sing
as they tumble off my back.
Tonight I take off my shoes and
sleep the sleep that dreams no
dreams for I know the Shekinah
has come to rest.
December, 1991
“Shekinah is the female manifestation of God in man, the divine indwelling. In the Kabbalah, she is the 10th sefira Malkuth, otherwise the Queen. The creation of the world was, according to The Zohar, the work of the Shekinah. In the New Testament sense, she is the glory emanating from God, His effulgence.