Poem for Christmas

I wrote this pantoum for the recent Slingink Scribbling Slam which I was lucky enough to win. The other day I realised it would make a perfect Christmas poem to give to some of my writer friends. Here it is for anyone else who might like to read it.

NIGHT-LIGHT

This small night-light, this wax –

is it a wolf or a beaver-moon?

The candle wick quivers, is low;

it struggles to find a true north.

Is it a wolf or a beaver-moon,

a firefly’s glittering stage?

It struggles to find a true north

in the frost and iron of snow.

A firefly’s glittering stage?

There are huddles of birds

in the frost and iron of snow.

The harlequins have left.

There are huddles of birds

though rafters are empty of nests.

The harlequins have left

that tumbled, cavorted and sang.

Rafters are empty of nests;

yet something was here

that tumbled, cavorted and sang

in the dark – a star or a moth?

Something was here.

The wick of the candle is low

in the dark. A star or a moth:

this small night-light, this wax.

Mandy Pannett    Christmas 2011