A Candle that Knows It Won't See the Day
By Thomas Parker
Every star was once born of an initial spark
And will eventually flicker and fade away.
Were it not for the certainity of the next day
Men would lament and despair in the dark.
The lion knows he'll no longer be the monarch
Yet, like a candle that knows it won't see the day
He flares one last time before he fades away.
Man though, facing a flood, feebly prays for an arc.
Instead, until your inner light blazes amidst the gloom
Brighter than even Baghdad being razed, to it tend.
Seven centuries ago, man saw in those flames the end.
Don't be so sure of death; that you're in the tomb
When you have no way to know the dark isn't a womb
Don't be confident of the world's end till it is the end.
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Thomas Parker is a Muslim-American poet, writer and translator from Texas. He, in addition to translating from Turkish and Arabic, also writes, mostly, but not exclusively, poetry in his native tongue of English. He is the co-founder and poetry editor of The Bosphorus Review of Books and is currently working very slowly on a debut novel.