Light The Festive Candles

By Aileen Lucia Fisher

 

Light the first of eight tonight—
the farthest candle to the right.
 
Light the first and second, too,
when tomorrow’s day is through.
 
Then light three, and then light four—
every dusk one candle more
 
Till all eight burn bright and high,
honoring a day gone by
 
When the Temple was restored,
rescued from the Syrian lord,
 
And an eight-day feast proclaimed—
The Festival of Lights—well named
 
when we regained the right to pray
to our one God in our own way.

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