by Pat Connors

One candle flickers in the cold dark
waits for the light of the second candle.

This is the season of preparation.
These are the middle times between
the promise and its fulfillment.

I will not get there by having
by doing, or by getting–
only by rest and reflection.

I know I have been saved from myself.
I know there is hope for the future.
But I don’t know what I have right now.

Pat Connors‘ first chapbook, Scarborough Songs, was released by Lyricalmyrical Press in 2013, and charted on the Toronto Poetry Map. Other publication credits include: Spadina Literary Review; Poems for Ephesians (McMaster Divinity College Website); Tamaracks; The 55 Project; and Tending the Fire, released last spring by the League of Canadian Poets. His first full collection, The Other Life, is newly released by Mosaic Press.