Written in the small hours (“The night owl is still at it”), this poem opens with Plahm’s characteristic meta-commentary about his process: he writes for an audience of one while hoping the result is universal, “like writing a spell to capture something eternal but fleetingly beautiful.” The central conceit is deceptively simple: candlelight as the truest revealer of beauty. From this premise, Plahm builds a blazon—that Renaissance form cataloguing the beloved’s features—updated for intimacy rather than courtly distance. Skin invites touch, lips offer kisses, eyes cradle dreams, brow carries experience, cheek offers compassion. The parallel structure creates incantatory rhythm, each line a small devotion. The poem then shifts from visual to sensory: laughter becomes music, touch becomes sensuous, scent lingers as the speaker folds into embrace. The word “sacred” appears twice, framing the beloved not as object of desire but of veneration. “In that trembling glow… shadows retreat; you show me love’s meaning.” The final lines arrive at the title’s meaning: the beloved herself is the sacred light, the candle merely its metaphor. This is a love poem comfortable with worship, unafraid of sincerity.

“Sacred Light” is one of Plahm’s most accomplished love poems, achieving a sustained lyricism that justifies its title. The choice of candlelight as central image is inspired—it provides warmth without harshness, reveals without exposing, and carries associations of devotion (vigil candles, altar flames) that the poem exploits without stating. The blazon structure (cataloguing features: skin, lips, eyes, brow, cheek, face, smile) could feel formulaic, but Plahm animates each line with specific verbs: skin “invites,” lips “offer,” eyes “cradle,” brow “carries,” cheek “offers,” smile “teaches.” This precision elevates inventory to intimacy. The shift from sight to other senses (laughter, touch, scent) expands the poem’s register, and the image of the speaker “folding into embrace” is tender without sentimentality. The meta-preamble about writing for one while reaching all is characteristic Plahm self-awareness—some readers may find it breaks the spell, others will appreciate the honest framing. The poem’s vulnerability is its strength: it uses the word “sacred” without irony, trusting readers to accept reverence as a legitimate mode. A poem written at 3 a.m. that reads like it was crafted over weeks.