My Poetry: The Fire By Which You Set Earth Alight

Her picture sits on the mantle-piece,

Next to a puddle of red wax.

The memory of its flame

Illuminates the shadows on my heart

When the empty bed

Leaves me unable to sleep,

As the nightingale rests

And the metallic moon hums.

I used to re-read our letters

By that candle’s light,

Every word an embrace,

But, long ago I stopped counting the days

Since that flame burnt out.

I remember Arles,

You telling me all about Van Gogh,

On the banks of the Rhone

Where you spilt red wine down my pants.

Where I snapped that picture

As we set fire to your fears,

While planning to conquer the world.

Your flame red hair growing back,

Your smile returning like a sunrise.

But that was then,

Before the fire by which you set earth alight was extinguished.