To what shall I hold a candle

To what shall I hold a candle
           to love that passes by the hour
or to the days and nights
           we have shared in the innocence
of our affections

Say that we have travelled greatly
           in time and space
and that day by day
           we have come to know
our names and our bodies
           and our true selves
as our movements mapped
           a unique constellation of light
when darkness roamed the earth

To what shall I hold a candle
           but to the passing of passion
to the fading of belief
           to the slow drip of our age
into empty memories

John Lyons