Like a lone lantern in the night

You should enter this one in the contest

A couple of little nits
'playfully caressing me to ignite' -- 10 syllables
'fuel my lust to glow as light' -- 7 syllables

As for 'desire' and 'fire' - I'm not sure that they are 3 and two syllables respectively...
The final 'r' in both are what are called diphthongs, and count as only a third beat... 'fire' and 'desire' are usually said, within a sentence, with one and two syllables respectively...

However, at the end of a sentence, one tends to drag the 'r' sound out..... if I were the judge, I would pass them.... but perhaps you need to seek a more knowledgeable opinion

one other tiny thing - you have used the word 'like' twice within the first two verses - a little close don't you think?

I love this Rag - it is the sort of theme for which the form was invented

Love judy
xxx

idon't know what quartern or not

but this piece of exquisite poetic art
tells me some where in the hollow of my heart
lies a desire
a want and hope
like the lantern with darkness to elope
as the wanton flows
from with in all night
the desires glow
when the lantern will be out
none shall know
my life so does ebb but slow
I want her to know

come alongside once again
to glow
am i wrong to think so

dear sublime raj
only u know

Sometimes breaking the rules leads to a superior poem. I liked this a great deal and didn't notice the infractions.............stan

I too wrote a quatern breaking a rule I knew nothing about. I have withdrawn, but at least I received some positive comments on an old poem.
Yours however, is lovely. The quatern turn works for me, but I'm loosening in my later years.

It wouldn't take much to fix those two line and make them 8 syllabled
As for 'desire' and 'fire' - if I were you I wouldn't worry about them ... my comment was more a wondering about - I don't really know - and as I said, I tend to make 'fire' 2 and 'desire' 3 syllables, when they are placed at the end of the verse

Raj, this is what this site is supposed to be about - helping each other to improve our poetry
If you're going to always get disheartened when problems are pointed out and give up on a write, then what's the point?

Love judy
xxx

but a well educated one. She helps me.
I wanted to get in on "fire" and "desire".
Start with fire which I pronounce with a single syllable, but let me tell you why.

When I was a kid I studied voice rather seriously. About nine years serious. One of the thing I of course was taught was to hold a vowel sound and not a consonant. So "fire" vocally would be "fiiiiiiiiiiiiiir. The ending is a diphthong. Just a quick turn at the end of the word.
So I tend to pronounce most words this way.
Just my way of looking at it.

Sublime