Fire Dance

By Charles Pierre



This flame shimmers above a candle,
dancing to music that can't be heard,

a true partner of the dark, swaying
with sinuous steps through the still night,

trailing the candle while it burns down
to the wick's end, where the last wet wax

pools and flickers, and the dying fire
throws a few wild shadows on the wall,

before leaping as a jet of smoke
that vanishes into the blackness.

Image by Paul Goldfinger.   Notre Dame, Paris.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN with the Israeli Philharmonic.  

Play this very softly with this poem: