By Candlelight

I wrote this on April 8, 1994

By Candlelight

I walked in and held my breath

worried what tonight would be,

and as I sat there waiting

I imagined what I would see.

But the outcome wasn’t as I thought,

there were candles, song and laughter.

It was a celebration,

not in the usual way, for

there was a subtle note of

sad emotion, one to cry for.

It started out slowly with

just a little light, but as

the night continued, the

candles grew stronger, brighter

giving a sense of life,

strength and lastly, hope.

Nobody wanted to douse the flames

that appeared so magnificent.

It would have been a foreboding

of what was to come.

But a few simple words

set the flames loose.

They were stay free, stay

strong and feel alive in spirit

if not always in body—

I wrote this while I was grieving. Death has always inspired my writing life. So many emotions and I never knew what to do with them, so I wrote. I still do. All of my stories and novellas include death and grief in some way. It’s a real thing. It’s a human thing, and I think it’s important to deal with the natural and inevitable event of death and grief.

I titled this poem By Candlelight because I envisioned a large gathering of people grieving together, having nothing in common but their emotions and the serene and hopeful light of the candles they all held. Death isn’t the end. Death is the light. It’s the beginning of a better life, the best life. The ones left to cry, grieve and move forward the best they can always have the comfort of knowing that this earthly life will end sooner than we think, and we too will find that forever love and peace with the One who gives us all that is good.

Whatever your faith looks like, or if you’re lacking in faith, I hope you know that this world we live in is temporary. All the pain, the problems, the tears and hopelessness you feel will be gone. If you believe, if you have true faith, only your body will die. Your spirit will live on.

Be the light in this world and strive to be an eternal light in the next.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Revelation 21:4