I was instead staring at the back of the candle where the label has a prayer to be said to Mary, asking for protection for one's children. What caught my attention, just below the prayer in Spanish and then in English, were these words:
ADVERTENCIA! Para prevenir encendios nunca deja una vela encendida fuera de vista! (etc.)
Okay, yes, a fire warning in Spanish and English as well. Burn candle within sight. Keep out of reach of children and pets. Never burn a candle on or near anything that can catch fire.
Here is my prayer to Mary:
Dear Mary, please don't let me start a fire with your candle. Have mercy on my poor tired soul, worn out from trying to understand your loving example of being a virgin yet wife and mother all at once. Thank you for letting me grow up Protestant so I don't actually feel any guilt about any of that. Help me to remember that I should not let the dog play with matches ever again. Or drive the car, of course. Lead me from the temptation to run with scissors. Amen.
5 comments:
Poor Mary. It wasn't her idea. And you are welcome for being brought up Protestant. I have two tickets, one Catholic and one Protestant so I guess I'm covered, right? HA HA HA HA HAHA
Like the 70's when my mother left a lit cigarette in every room, many cultures do have to keep track of how many candles are lit and where they are. How else do blessings flow. I suggest a candle chart that logs the exact location of active candles in the house. Maybe with little magnets that glow on it. Or simply watch for smoke. Ellen, you double dipper.
Virgin?
But what I really wanted to say was, "Je suis sympathique."
Je ne veux pas travailler
Je ne veux pas dejeuner
Je veux seulement oublier
et puis je fume
which is the chorus to "Sympathique" by China Forbes and Thomas M. Lauderdale, after the poem "Hotel" by Guillaume Apollinaire
and which means:
I don't want to work
I don't want to lunch
I want only to forget
and then I smoke
which could be said by Mary the Candle on a bad day, or by me, but since I don't smoke the last line would be:
and then I fume.
Might be good to check the batteries in the smoke detector.
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