If this world has made it easy for you
To imagine the sear of a flame’s flawless mouth
As holy (it only takes one big love
Holding fear’s god-like heat against your life),
I’m here to say that you can choose
To hear yourself returning
From the enduring pain of that light,
Back from trusting a flame might transform
Its mythic reach into a grasp
Gone soft with memory. You can undo
Making a flame lord over anything
Other than the blue-green beginning of grief.
You can even stop your loud heart
From hoping a flame will finally lower the blade
Inside its tongue or cease the ancient crux
Of smoke. You can forgive yourself
For worshipping a flame’s constant sigh,
Picturing song that isn’t prelude to more
Ruin, for adding your childhood dreams
To the cold clarity of a flame’s demand.
I’m telling you: you can come back now—
Faith freed from any splendor still swearing
To burn the brightness from your name.
Used with the permission of the author.