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The Flickering Light

Light may not always be your friend

By Rachel DeemingPublished 3 months ago 1 min read
The Flickering Light
Photo by Marko Blažević on Unsplash

It flickers, the light, and it claims

To brighten all shadows with flames,

But its brightness betrays,

Like a nightly death ray,

Drawing victims inside where it maims.

Limerick

About the Creator

Rachel Deeming

Storyteller. Poet. Reviewer. Traveller.

I love to write. Check me out in the many places where I pop up:

Medium

My blog

Reedsy

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Beware of imitators.

Reader insights

Outstanding

Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!

Top insight

  1. Excellent storytelling

    Original narrative & well developed characters

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Comments (17)

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  • Test3 months ago

    This was eery, Rachel!!! Belated congratulations on getting honourable mention last week in the leaderboard!!

  • Tim Carmichael3 months ago

    What a clever and darkly playful poem! I love how you've taken something as simple as a light and turned it into this almost sinister character.

  • J. R. Lowe3 months ago

    Sounds so insidious… maybe I’ll keep the lights off tonight 😬

  • Marilyn Glover3 months ago

    A power-packed punch, the betrayal of the lantern no one wants to see. Excellent work, Rachel, and congratulations on making this week's leadership board!👏

  • Wooohooooo congratulations on your Leaderboard placement! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊

  • Silver Daux3 months ago

    Ahh this is so good!! I'm a sucker for moth-to-the-flame stories and this one was especially spectacular.

  • TheSpinstress 3 months ago

    I never thought anything could make me feel sorry for moths, but I did for about three seconds then. Making the lantern sound sinister was an interesting and original choice.

  • Lana V Lynx3 months ago

    Yeah I always felt bad for the bugs who fly right into the flames. Great poem, Rachel!

  • C. Rommial Butler3 months ago

    Well-wrought! The flame, I think, does not so much invite the moth as the moth, through a lack of awareness about its instincts, mistakes the flame for a sun it can never reach. Were it flying to the sun, it would find only the ever-stretching horizon. False lights are indeed to be avoided on this account.

  • John Cox3 months ago

    Like a moth to a flame? Interesting choice of poetic form, Rachel, for this challenge! Loved your limerick! Best of luck in the challenge!

  • Definitely a surprising take on the challenge… very clever.

  • A. J. Schoenfeld3 months ago

    So dark and unexpected. I'm also trying to remember if I have read any other limericks that were serious. In America they are always silly and most often dirty.

  • D. J. Reddall3 months ago

    Rare is the limerick that sends a shiver down my spine! Deftly done, Deeming!

  • Hehehehhe I love the dark direction you took for this challenge!

  • Jay Kantor3 months ago

    BritBud - So glad to see your unique work among the book reviews. CalBud

  • JBaz3 months ago

    So wickedly wonderful The word play is marvellous

  • Paul Stewart3 months ago

    Oh chum, this is clever and so true!

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