Leaving the candles to flicker and sweal,
a danger to the papers strewn atop
the walnut cabinet hauled all the way
from Jersey—she knew better, owed herself
better than letting it burn. Cigarette
stubbed out in the painted clay ashtray
made decades back in a summer camp lodge.
Tapers snuffed, freezing their wax rivulets
into abstract sculpture. This is how to
say good night in silence and have it stick.