A New Beginning

The Witch said I could keep
you away by burning
a black candle in a bowl
of water until the flame
went under.

My friends have sat for hours,
in a circle holding wrists, thinking
I've put too much in again;
they cannot ever help me.

The flame's still starkly burning,
looks like our hands reaching
for, then beyond, each other.
Not all of you is monster.

I wanted to incinerate cruel
feathers of doubt; my sense the air
is better breathed by others;
that perception there is no point
in running when you always watch.

I drop their hands,
put my finger into its reach,
to snuff my hope out.
I can't try a new beginning
with someone better than you,
will always get sucked back
into what I deserve.

But this time round,
the flame falters,
as I snatch myself
away from pain.