Gone

Was the last flame

your angry defiance,

your will to overcome?

.

Or was it

your burning insistence

that this wasn’t your fate?

.

Candlelight, barely a flame,

implored, “Come back!

Grow brighter!”

.

Embers now, glowing deep

within the charred checkerboard.

Not flames at all.

.

Your glow diminished,

barely visible…

Any time now.

.

Giant flames burst forth

dying out just as quickly,

One last goodbye.

.

Your spark, gone.

.

Now, it’s memories

that carry me through

the fire of loss.

.

Are they enough?

.

Silence.

.

Every morning

flames lick my heart,

daring me to live.

.

At night, blankets of grief

beat back flames

determined to destroy.

.

I cannot breathe

longing for the day

the flame dies out.