Candles glisten, blue and white
In the windows
and on graves across the land.
Memories of independence:
A declaration, an idea, a nation.
Quiet thankfulness and pride,
a flickering pinprick of light.
.
Itsenäisyyspäivä Suomenmaa.
poem- candle December 12, 2013
In Finland,
a single candle in the window
is the Christmas light.
In graveyards,
candles illuminate gravestones
through the dark winter days:
a haunting reminder
of life lights extinguished,
better than buried plastic flowers
in the moonlit snow.
Light dances like a living soul
in windows and on graves.
Single points of light,
simple festivity,
Christmas celebration
far away.
.
.
Missing my Finnish host families and friends tonight, but remembering them with a candle in my window.
Shawn L. Bird 