Joe Jencks

One night I was sitting under the tarp at Camp Constance (my home at the Kerrville Folk Festival). In spite of the wind, the small candle nested in a back-packer's lamp was waving and dancing and holding on just fine. My heart was filled with love for the fellow musicians and artists with whom I was spending time. It is a good thing to recognize how much we love each other and how much we grow from being together… with our tribe. The walls come down and the beauty emerges. You can only welcome the heartbreak and the healing that come from it. You can only submit yourself to the experience and welcome the love. And it changes you. Our time together is fleeting. And yet… we can hold that fire in our hearts and let it warm us in our own literal or metaphorical nights. Thanks to Alicia for the inspiration. Thanks to Karen Mal for the Kerrville home.

She haunts your heart at midnight
When you know that you should rest
You see her beauty in the sunrise
Feel a burning in your breast
The fruit of all temptation
From some forbidden tree
But the feeling that you long for
Only lives when it is free

Chorus
And you may hold the candle
But you cannot hold the flame
If you ever touch that fire
You will never be the same
A spirit that's elusive
Something wild you cannot tame
You may hold the candle
But you cannot hold the flame

Unexpectedly you see her
In the middle of your day
She fills your heart with wonder
As you try to look away
A dangerous desire
But you cannot stem the tide
The ebb and flow of all your dreamings
You keep locked up deep inside

And the angels dance around her head
When the moon shines on her hair
There are galaxies with in her eyes
Untold stories linger there
Every moment has its purpose
Every moment has its end
The only tree that cannot weather
Is the one that will not bend

You may hold the candle
But you cannot hold the flame

You may hold the candle
But you'll never hold the flame

copyright 2007 Joe Jencks