I have always found that a fire is brightest at the final, fleeting instant before it is put out
When flames fight asphyxiation - wild and desperate
And fiery, red tongues lick their last dregs of life out of the air
Until darkness swallows the last whisper of smoke
And we are left with the inevitable fate of nothing
The sky was on fire when you said you didn’t love me
Blazing amber in that perfect moment before its surrender to night
I burned with it
Starting at my ears scorched by your words
Then spreading swiftly to consume my blistering body
Above and within me, tortured scarlet bled into bold, optimistic peach
But indigo began to peer around the darkening edges of gold
The sun and I fought for the colors to stay
My breaking heart poured its own hue into the sky searching for mercy
But all was easily washed away by the cruel twilight
I felt my body grow cold
You were gone by the time the last quivering vestiges of hopeful light were lost
And now the moon and I are left all alone to drown together in the night sky
He laughs with me at the follies of humans in love
And he does not question when I cry
The night is spent in pain
But a special kind that is cool against my tear stained cheeks
The moon warns me that the sun’s light will soon return
I beg him not to let it
To keep me safe in this peaceful darkness forever
Far away from the searing heat of love unrequited
He agrees to help me
I watch him intensely and begin to see him shift
He is growing
Round and swollen he expands into the space around him
As if the emptiness of night had been created just for his use
His smooth surface swallows every corner of the sky
Then begins to press into the walls of Earth’s atmosphere as well
Ballooning into every crevice, the wave of silver sweeps toward me
Finally his presence explodes into the space above and around me
The underside of the moon is cold and still
I can feel him pressing into me
I close my eyes and think of you
All the heat I will no longer be forced to carry inside my body
This love will no longer burn me from the inside out
Continuing to inflate, the moon flattens me against his great mass
I am thankful as I feel my bones begin to crack under the immense weight
Thankful for the immeasurable pressure crushing my body into dust
Thankful to disappear into the moon’s blank surface
Thankful to finally escape the last and therefore most agonizing moments of a heart on fire
Thankful that the brightest I ever burned was for you
YOU ARE READING
Tacenda
Poetrytacenda (n.) things better left unsaid; matters to be passed over in silence