His Last Wishes

His Last Wishes

I watched the last fire fading tonight,

its quiet light drifting softly through air,

and it felt like the world learning to end,

in the slow gentle way a heart will break.

I stood there thinking tenderly of him,

the man whose kindness carried all my days,

and the fire became more than simple light,

it felt like the shape of him slipping away.

He wished for flames to send him to the sky,

a final rise glowing like a soft red star,

yet my heart trembled at that gentle request,

fearing the fire would take him too far.

For someone quiet and gentle as he was,

someone I hoped to rest beside in time,

cannot be given to ashes and cold wind,

cannot be lost to a night without form.

The embers lowered and drifted into smoke,

thin and pale as it moved into the cold,

and I wished the fire could guide me gently,

showing a path that will bring him home.

Now the last glow is falling into dusk,

leaving only the stillness endings bring,

and I hold the truth I cannot shift now,

his wish for fire stands far from my heart.

For I need a place where I bring a rose,

and feel the earth keeping him close to me,

and maybe it is wrong or maybe just love,

but I cannot let the fire take him away.