fire

I watch the fire
see the way it flickers
unencumbered by wind or rain
I’ve seen its inferno
the way it rises and licks the edges
of its world
leaving a blackened shadow
on the universe above

In this light all the poles
are trees in a suburban forest
a moth the size of my hand
rests on a dead hunk of wood
rising so far into the sky
I can count the stars
unobstructed by its view
for a second this place is a wonderland
life breathing under the harnessed fire
of wires paving a new world
fireflies leading the way
for the human animal within

I’m a midnight stalker
of the lonely soul
lighting cigarettes to send smoke signals
out into the night
with the simple message of
save me
save me from myself
from my heart that beats
for nothing and no one
save me from the lighter fluid
and the inhale of my own demise
that I cling to
because it is the only fire here
worth breathing

I’m an observer of lonely places
the sundial that in the dark
is timeless and empty
and without life
no one comes here
between dusk and dawn
the swing set blowing in the wind
casting ghosts across the ground
in a silent longing for touch and laughter
we are much the same
in our impermanence

I breathe in the smoke
of trapped fires
open fires
dying fires
outside and within
my footsteps the only sound
in a sleeping world
unheard by my own ears
as I let my thoughts
drift untethered
to other times and places
my skin burned by heat
and stories and drugs
and memories
that can’t be returned to
when the fire has gone out

So I watch the fire
see the way it flickers
unencumbered by wind or rain
I’ve seen its inferno
the way it rises and licks the edges
of its world
leaving a blackened shadow
on the universe above

© Indie Adams 2015