The one true flame

The one true flame                                                                                 
 
It might be described as a flame (perhaps) –
an oil lamp turned way down low
 
hanging at the doorsteps of the heart’s shop
dimly illuminating the arches within.
 
Or, perhaps, a tension (rather than heat
and light) not quite physical, which might
 
at any prompting become a loose flutter
and, perhaps, take flight.  Or, a slight tremor
 
below the range of sound, yet ever
on the verge of the melodic. 
 
An enigmatic presence to pay heed to,
to shelter with cupped heart-hands;
 
to forsake entirely the whole of the world
for this tiny, intimate flame-tension-tremor
 
within a body no longer mine, a mind no longer me,
an existence I have ceased attempting to grasp.
 
O child of God, look upon your every fellow creature
as yet another bearer of the one true flame.