Lantern Lighter

• Artist: rurie whatadrag
• Description: I wanted to do a poem about fire, but this came out instead. It's based on the older (14-1800'ish) fear of the dark, when people would tie themselves to their bedposts to avoid their hands falling in to the shadows as they slept. Don't take it as historical since I'm not sure lantern lighters actually existed. I know that there used to be boys that carried lanterns and led people home, but I'm not sure about fire lighters. Either way, fictional or not, it's a poem I like and hope you do as well.
• Date: 08/04/2010
• Tags: lantern lighter fire night darkness

Flickering lights,
dancing shadows,
shifting creatures
moving to and fro.
Hot wax dries
to my palm,
and firelight reflects
within my eyes.
I breathe,
deep and slow
to keep the fear
at bay.
The lanterns must be
lit,
to shine light in to
this horrid
night.
To reveal
the path,
the winding road,
but darkness,
deathly black,
is what awaits
me now.
For I must be the
first,
to re-light the lanterns
lost,
to walk down
the haunted road.
My feet are heavy
with despair, for
the first,
the first is the hardest.
No flame in front,
and none behind,
nowhere to turn.
Quickly as the fire will
allow,
I try to reach
the lantern.
Twenty steps,
an eternity away.
I finally reach my
destination,
and bring to life this
desolate night.
The rest is so
much the same,
hardened in fear,
I walk,
re-lighting what was
lost.
When I come home my
breath is deep,
hollow in its
attempts to calm
my beating heart.
For now, I rest,
as daylight comes
and I embrace the sun.
Tomorrow the moon will
rise
once more, but
that night is not
now.