The One Who Keeps the Light

She stands where winter presses hardest against the glass.

Wings heavy with dust and years.

A lantern held not to guide the living forward—but to keep something from being forgotten.

The One Who Keeps the Light is a guardian piece. Not an angel of rescue or triumph, but of watchfulness. She does not intervene. She witnesses. The flame she carries is small, deliberate, and unwavering—meant for those moments when grief is quiet, memory is heavy, and the night feels longer than it should.

This image belongs to the still hours.

To rooms warmed by fire and silence.

To those who understand that some lights are not meant to banish darkness—only to endure it.

Created as part of the Ancestors Tavern Seasonal Collection 2025, this piece is offered as a digital artwork for personal contemplation, sacred spaces, or those corners of a home where candles are lit without ceremony.

Heather Lynn Donovan

Always by candlelight