I feed the fire photographs
Two figures resting in the green
You lean toward another path
The scent of earth no longer keen
Paper curls, the moment parts
Memory loosens into dark

Resentments rise in violent bloom
Rage migrates from spark to spark
Fear is the fuel that seals the room
Pain gives the fire its needed dark

Ticket stubs from velvet nights
A balcony of hollow sound
I burn what once rehearsed delight
No echo lifts me from the ground
Joy thinned out, lost its tone
Warmth remains, but joy is gone

A silver wave on fragile glass
A promise barely learned to stay
No cry, no breath was ever cast
Still, something living slipped away
I give the image to the flame
My body keeps the empty frame

Resentments rise in violent bloom
Rage migrates from spark to spark
Fear is the fuel that seals the room
Pain gives the fire its needed dark

No relics left for flame or coal
No names still aching to be said
I offer silence, whole and whole
And let it warm what sorrow shed
The grate lies bare, the night is thin
I choose, still trembling, to begin

Resentments rise in violent bloom
Rage migrates from spark to spark
Fear is the fuel that seals the room
Pain gives the fire its needed dark