“BLACK CANDLE” is a dark, atmospheric lyric that blends gothic romanticism with moral and emotional decay, framed through a recurring ritual image of a burning candle. The tone is somber, intimate, and elegiac, while the voice feels reflective and haunted, as though recounting a doomed intimacy from a place of aftermath rather than immediacy. One of the poem’s strongest qualities is its central symbol, which functions as both witness and metaphor for corrupted love, flickering between desire, guilt, and spiritual erosion. Written for the “A Shattered Cup of Doom” novella, this poem appears in the “First Shards of Broken Glass” chapbook.
“BLACK CANDLE”
flame of the wick
on a black candle, dancing
slam to the wall
the shade of our iniquities
which ravage like beasts
at the flesh and the bone
i lie with her, alone
innocence deceased
no opt-outs, no amnesties
to here we fall
by a black candle, dancing
flame of the wick
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