Orange black, black orange
Dusty greys, let’s now flay
Our blackened hearts open
Smudged with tears and soot unspoken

A withered toe, crimped by fire
Clings pointlessly to a rock
A burnt crisp of an island
Amid the river’s amber flow

Your glassy eyes stare as if you’d seen
Flames, were formed in-flames
As the cloaking blackness choked the view
Even your water did not save you

I’ve carried the tinder for these fires
A cauldron inside that grew with raging hate;
I fired this land, till all inside was smote
And cindered

But now the lands creak and crack
And holding hands we make our track
And for a while I carry your withered frame
Make a necklace at dusk

For I’ve determined
To celebrate what survives the flame.