Wick of the Soul

By Michael Lyle

---

​The candle burning 
on the pastor’s desk
shines like a lighthouse

across the waves 
of parish busyness
in uneven piles

reminder to pray 
for a parishioner’s surgery
amid voicemail, email, text.

Ancient illumination
gathering quintessence
like a handful of stars
dying and being born
 
vigilance warming
the fathomless sea.

---

Michael Lyle is the author of the poetry chapbook The Everywhere of Light (Plan B Press), and his poems have appeared widely, including in Atlanta Review, The Carolina Quarterly, Crannóg, The Hollins Critic, Mudfish and Poetry East. He lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

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