Five Flames

For every five persons, statistics show,
One person is mentally ill.
We light our candles in sorrow and hope.
For every light there is a flame.

What is a flame?
A girl holding a candle slowly turns
And leans forward touching a flame
To her mother's candle.
White wax softens under heat
And the wick ignites. Two people,
Two flames, create the silence of light.

Stepping forward the girl extends again
The burning string. A man's hand holds steady
To receive the light. He says nothing
To identify himself, but looks up.
What brightness
Creates glow from shadows?

There are three candles casting
Pools of light lapping into the darkness
Over faces of several dozen
Holding candles.

The girl slips into the crowd and a friend smiles.
There. Here is a light,
And there again--her teacher's candle extends
To tag the fire and is lit.

Five flames are dancing amid the faces,
Five bearers--a mother, a stranger,
A friend and a teacher,
And the girl who struck the match.

For every five persons, statistics show,
One person is mentally sick.
Is she sick, the first fire bearer, the girl,
Or is her mother? I do not know them.
Is it the man who remains anonymous,
Or the friend, the one who smiles?
Or is it perhaps the teacher,
Too eager for the flame?

What is a flame?
The crowd is waiting, holding candles.

-Sally Clay
October 10, 1987

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