Although most of the drafts for these two versions of the same poem were written in January 1991 (during phase two of the First Gulf War), subsequently modified in 2005, I am still unable to decide which is the final version. Each version has its merits and no doubt their flaws too.
THE CANDLE (Version I)
Waiting to break
this happy equilibrium
the flames shaft
laps the glowing air.
Today the bombs
fall on Baghdad –
I watch the candle burn.
A patterned globe
of wax emits
a subtle fragrance –
no flesh is burning
here in my room.
Is this the flame
that purifies –
surgically pue?
An opening of the door –
a minor turbulence,
the flame now licks
the candles side.
The meltdown of the globe
begins so casually.
Malcolm Evison
*************************
THE CANDLE (Version II)
A patterned globe
of wax emits
a subtle fragrance.
The flames shaft
laps the glowing air
waiting to break
this happy equilibrium.
Is this the flame
that purifies
whilst commentators whine
of surgical strikes.
Open the door, create
a minor turbulence –
the flame now licks
the candles side –
the meltdown of the globe
began precisely
with the strike
of that first match.
Today the bombs
rain down; a patterned globe
emits the stench
of burning flesh.
Malcolm Evison
