Brief

For the candle, where the candle
is a proxy for life—flammable
tallow, a taper we trim—there is
no better adjective, though
it doesn’t follow that brief
is the best word for life.

For one thing, even those
who would impress upon us
the brevity of our turn
favor its synonyms: the poets,
fleeting; the evangelists, short.
For another, time accordions.

Bu…