Season of skinny candles - Marge Piercy

[Larry Robinson]

Season of skinny candles

A row of tall skinny candles burns 
quickly into the night 
air, the shames* raised 
over the rest 
for its hard work.

Darkness rushes in 
after the sun sinks 
like a bright plug pulled. 
Our eyes drown in night 
thick as ink pudding.

When even the moon 
starves to a sliver 
of quicksilver 
the little candles poke 
holes in the blackness.

A time to eat fat
and oil, a time to gamble
for pennies and gambol

	- Marge Piercy 

*shames: the middle candle that lights the others every night