Katherine Davidson
Candlelight
She watches her reflection in the window,
Highlighted against the consuming darkness outside.
She sees trees through the shadows of her pupils.
Stars flicker across the whites of her eyes.
As in an honest portrait, every feature is accentuated.
The fickle flame stresses her prominent cheekbones,
Darkens frown lines on her brow.
Her image is ghostly, translucent,
The colour of thin cream; diluted paint.
Shade is ashen and dusky, like a fading bruise,
Running, seeping into the night beyond.
Hypnotised by this frail beauty, she lies watching,
conversing with her mournful echoed eyes,
Telling silent stories past the breach of time and space.
The wick withers in hunger,
Slowly erasing her reflection in the filmy pane;
collapsing, she is swallowed by the ultimate night.
Page(s) 94
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