Seeing the illumination dance across a setting,

would that I could breathe the life it emits.

I want to feel it’s fire, passing flames upon

each other while the quiet remains at bay.

I’d wait here for hours if I could, though

the flicker long subdued by melted wax.

When life asks us to imagine our otherwise,

it’s often far too difficult to comprehend.

We want so badly to understand meaning,

we get lost in the strange fiction of time.

I once stood by a shoreline and fantasized

the cold water enveloping my naked body.

Hours later I realized I had left too much

behind would demand answers and truth.

Seems such an easy gesture to give up

in a life one will say we’re meant to endure.