In Praise of Gnats

short moments

uttered

and uttered

and muttered

repeatedly

in honorarium

for those who passed

in past times

and the oil

we burn

in candles

and lanterns

to signify

to celebrate

to mourn

and yet

it is

the gnat

the flaw

that spoils the moment

and brings us

to the now

for the dead

will always

be dead

candles or no

but the gnat is

only in the now.