The Candle Dance (Orleans XLVIII '91)

Take the candle dance for instance.
It could show you anything on your very
own ceiling. But will it touch
the floor my friend, will it touch the
floor? You stare into that candle and
you'll find that you can't describe what
it looks like. You'll be capable of
minute detail for those things which
surround it, but as for the actual
light of the candle, you shall be rendered
helpless. Why? Because it is not fixed,
it is an entity which is subject to
immediate and obvious change. Therefore
we cannot pin it down, like the photo on
the wall which it illuminates. The candle's
essence is indescribable; it is only its dance
which we have access to. Thus the
essential question is, where have you
put your candle my friend, and what
is within its reach? Where does the
dance of your candle take you? What
do you let it show you? For some,
the shadows are a deterrent, the dance
draws them into a lurching, un-
wieldy and uncomfortable moment.
Others can stream along with the
shadows themselves, alighting in
unseen corners and staying long
enough to illuminate yet dancing
off to yet another corner before the
darkness can make them stumble.
And sometimes, when the wind is
still, a large part of your surroundings
will be illuminated by a serene and
loving light. This is usually the time when
most would make a vacuum of their world
so that the light would remain as lucid
and calm. This is also the time when most
forget that a vacuum leaves no room
for fire, only room for extinguished hopes
and smoking wicks. When this calm and
loving light is upon you my friend, the
only thing to do is open up the window
and hope that all the life doesn't stop
the candle from dancing through those shadows.