Threading a darksome passage all alone, <br />The taper's flame, by envious current blown, <br />Crouched low, and eddied round, as in affright, <br />So challenged by the vast and hostile night, <br />Then down I held the taper; -- swift and fain <br />Up climbed the lovely flower of light again! <br /> <br />Thou Kindler of the spark of life divine, <br />Be henceforth the Inverted Torch a sign <br />That, though the flame beloved thou dost depress, <br />Thou wilt not speed it into nothingness; <br />But out of nether gloom wilt reinspire, <br />And homeward lift the keen empyreal fire!<br /><br />Edith Matilda Thomas<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-inverted-torch/
