As my breath kills this flame
that stands near my mother's ever smiling image
the soft scent of warm candle wax
sweeps through my room.

The smell of comfort left
by the single flame I lit
to tell her so much.

To say thank you
for those fifteen years she held me,
above hunger and the winter's chill.

To show appreciation for each drop
of blood, or of tear
she shed to nurture life in her child.