A dark time,

an end time

a beginning time.

A time for the lighting of lights

to dispel the darkness.

My flame

mingled with your flame,

creating a great light

to shine in the darkness.

[Eileen Dawson Peterson, lives in Eugene, OR. She has written poetry since childhood. She has been published in several anthologies and in such publications as South Dakota Magazine,  Arabesques, Denali, Tiger’s Eye, Avocet, and so on. She won honorable mention for two poems and a play in the 2004 Annual Writers Digest Writing Competition. The play, “Blue Skies and Butterflies” was produced November 2011 in Eugene, Oregon.  Dragonfly’s Eye Press published her children’s picture book, Kitty With the Raccoon Tail. She is a member of Lane Literary Guild, Oregon Poetry Association, and South Dakota Poetry Association.]