One Remains

[Celaquil]

I don't know what to say,
just that I recently finished this one,
and thought I'd share it.

Happy (or sad) reading.

Here, as I sit, in my own personal pit
Surrounded by stumps
Of candles, once lit.
I remind myself of days hence,
Of long ago,
When fires illuminated my presence.
Burning bright, these withering candles
Once promised a future so right.

Now, only one remains.

As we grow, we come to know
The darkness that follows our passing life.
One by one, these candles douse, and with them
Faint happy dreams fades away - dies.
We come to accept the darkness, fearing it no more.
Those foolish childhood fears, gone in a flux of tears.
And one by one, they quench away.

Now, only one remains.

Behind me it flickers,
Dancing shadows surround me.
It mocks me in its epileptic show.
See, the fire is dying,
so I dare not move.
For even the faintest
Of breaths
May quench it for good.

Beyond is only darkness,
Solitude and pain,
Beyond is no hope,
No future to attain.

Now, only one remains,
Only one remains.

Only one.

 

[N.Knight]

wow! I really like it. The atmosphere is very intense and brooding like a E.A Poe poem
The implied comparison of fire with life and of darkness with death was really nice.

You said happy or sad reading? I don't know in what way it can be interpreted as a happy poem. Its like taking a walk in a graveyard and not thinking of all the souls laid to rest there. It will take a very hard heart to read this as a happy poem and I don't possess one. It made me somewhat sombre for some time. Which is a quality of an excellent poem, one that can sway the reader with the emotion that the author has instilled within it.

I did not understand the comparison of death with solitude and pain in one of the later stanzas where the narrator laments the impossibilities of a future, ie death:
"Beyond is only darkness,
solitude and pain,"

Death is escape from solitude and pain. I can be wrong however in this interpretation. Please elucidate.

 

[Celaquil]

The atmosphere is very intense and brooding like a E.A Poe poem

I would say he's among my favourite poets,
but it would taste a lie to say I've read enough
English poetry to claim something like that.
Suffice to say, I'm not sure I deserve being
compared to such talent.

You said happy or sad reading?

Happy, in the sense of enjoying the read,
not enjoying the message the read portrays.

Read at risk:

Anyway, yes, going by your interpretation, it would sound
strange if death was synonymous with solitude, simply because
no person alive knows what is after death, or so it is to my
limited knowledge. Anyway, that means your interpretation
is slightly off.

See, "the narrator" isn't describing how it is to die, but how
it is to live when all lights are gone, in this case the lights
aren't synonymous with life in general, but represent each a
different dream, a different hope, something that makes life
worth living. So the narrator describes what life will be like
when the final candle blows away, and suffice to say, he
doesn't seem awfully enthusiastic about it... So one might
guess what he'll do if it'd happen.

I put that bit up there in hidden because it delves into my
ideas of what the poem is about, so if you want to keep
your own thoughts separated from mine while reading it,
I suggest you read the poem without looking at the hidden
text.

 

[N.Knight]

...Suffice to say, I'm not sure I deserve being
compared to such talent.

Humbleness on your part but I did compare only the atmosphere, neither the language nor the style and I can do that safely, having read all of Poe's work and his life history for my papers.

Well, a life not worth living is not a life at all.
So me finding an allusion to death here will not be entirely off the course.
But yeah now that you have explained I see the bigger picture which goes on to increase my appreciation of this piece