The candle sits in a glass chamber. Its depth into the glass is telling of how long it has been used. With each flicker of the flame, it melts more wax to form a small pool beneath it and exudes the scent of a strawberry-cherry conconction.
I am often indifferent to details because I am always eager to see or form the big picture. In my haste, I seldom stop and smell the roses much less describe how a candle flickers, yet there is something inherently peaceful in watching this candle burn. It gives me a sense of calmness I rarely experience.
I try to blow it out, but I am met with resistance. I try, and try, and try, and try again. I finally put it out on the fifth one and I wondered as to how often a candle kills its flame on the first try. Rare isn’t it? Maybe there is something to be said about the candle’s persistence in keeping its flame alive despite the first blow that hits it or even the ones that hit it afterwards. Only when the core of its flame is blown that it finally gives it out, but even then it attempts to leave one more lasting puff. It could very well be that there is nothing to be said at all other than it is mere fact of science – a truth that we universally accept as the “way it is and the way it always will be.”
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes, like Love’s eternal flame. All a flame needs is a little air to survive! Thank You Paulo, a beautiful story : )
To merge with the Essence is the Way to be broadminded.
My heart felt that a person can be the candle with a flame which is fueled by the Universe, and people who do not understand this communication continue trying to blow out the light. Human beings are blowing out each others candle. I say Warrior of Light flames will not go out!!
I feel this story has a personal interpretation for everyone. Thanks Katherine.
Hmm. Am I in a peculiar state of mind? Dont get the meaning. I always love candles light .
Really nice!
Yes, there is a bit of the persistence of that flame in each of us, I suppose. I have never seen a person die, but I have watched animals die – horses, cats, dogs, wild birds and rabbits, even my pet mouse, Nicodemus, who expired in the palm of my hand at a ripe old age of two (very old for a mouse) – and the funny thing is, it is always the same. No matter how ill or how wounded the animal is, no matter how much pain they may be in or how better off they might be to simply let go, there seems to be something within them that insists upon clinging to life with all its might. There is something within us that wants to live, even when the body says its time to die. That spark, apparently, is somehow greater even than our individual will, because sometimes people say “I am ready to go” – they are in great pain, or simply old and tired – but they still have to wait. Although, on a conscious level, they are ready to let go and move on, they still have to wait for that flame to expire on its own.
This is somehow scary to me: the will to live that is somehow stronger than the conscious willingness to die (when the time has come) is scarier than the thought of death itself. Just the thought that there is something within us that may cling to life even when we ourselves are ready to go – this, to me, is a frightening concept. I think of warriors on a battlefield who have been wounded so severely that they cannot possibly live, and yet they cannot die. I think: God, please grant me the ability to fly free when it is my time to leave this body. Do not let me be trapped here by this thing that I do not understand – this seemingly insatiable Will to Live that is apparently a part of every living organism. If I am that candle, let me be blown out by the first puff rather than clinging on, in futility, until the fifth.
Thank you Katherine Lao. You are gifted. I could follow your thought from the first word to the last.. Your speech is direct and beautiful.
LOVE,
Thelma.
“it is mere fact of science-a truth that we universally accept as the “way it is and the way it always will be.”
Lao, u may be making a mistake here, a big one. in science there never ever is nor ever will be “way it is and the way iy always will be.” in science it is “we don’t know the way it actually is, for we have no knowledge of actualities, all we can say is that to the best of our knowldge and belief this is how it appears to us, and tomorrow it may appear diffrent and then we will let you know gleefully”
all science theorems are bases on some assumptions, till those assumptions are not proved wrong, theorm is held valid.
liked your methaphor for persistance. yes persiatnec is the key … to what….
and about details, one who is not aware ( mind you aware of, not that everything is on fingertips ) one who is not aware of details has got a faulty big picture, if at all one has one.
love
aditya
PS : let’s just be at times.
Katherine, Lovely story, very nice descriptions, I could clearly see the light of the candle, and smell the warm scent from the melting wax. Beautiful Katherine!
love.
Beautiful little piece that reminded me to not become frustrated by the candles in my life. Thank you for sharing :D x