The Lantern Cage

The Lantern Cage

I am a hanging lantern cage
Suspended in another prison;
The rusty bars speak of no age,
Yet death is near, and I, arisen,

Will wander where no metals are,
Where no door shall lock me in;
Though I still bear a mortal scar,
Soon I will shed this fatal skin.

I am the confine and the flame,
And only I can burn so bright;
This glow breaks out from in the frame
And scares away the bleakest night.

Many will heed the serpent’s hiss
And few the light of something higher.
I am the spark’s short-lived kiss,
And, in my time, the greatest fire.

I am a moment, one undying,
Where now my flame is this, the key;
This sacred blaze is still supplying
The truth of that which makes me free.