Dear Paschal Candle: Fifth Setting

Dear Paschal Candle: Fifth Setting

Desmond Kon

The wooden church had blue windows,
or was it the slate roof?

Have you ever held in your hands
a slab of Buckingham slate?

Felt its weight, the grey heft
of last week’s sky, how dark at noon.

Noon to three, the ninth hour,
as reported in Luke 23:44.

An eclipse, the biblical scholar said
“for the sun stopped shining”.

As accounted for in word and history;
true history, truth meaning truth.

Now, when truth means something—
truth means truth, in all its meaning.

Truth of fact and happening, the event.
Truth of purpose, revelation.

Emotional truth, that too,
and what it means for the poet-reader.

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Desmond Kon
Poet & Writer

DESMOND Francis Xavier KON Zhicheng-Mingdé is the author of an epistolary novel, a quasi-memoir, two lyric essay monographs, four hybrid works, nine poetry collections, and a creative guided journal. The former journalist has edited over twenty-five books and co-produced three audio books, several pro bono for non-profit organizations. Among other accolades, he is the recipient of the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award, Singapore Literature Prize, National Indie Excellence Book Award, Poetry World Cup, two Independent Publisher Book Awards, two Illumination Christian Book Awards, and five Living Now Book Awards. Desmond teaches creative writing at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He can be found at: desmondkon.com

Photography by Zülfü Demir