Wisps

“Fire Element” by Hellenne Vermillion

so much to see in a flame
lovers long gone away
dancing still in their
full flush of youth
slender pendulum clocks
with moon dials slow
to reveal their horizons
the spindrift of tropical
beaches beneath gently
fluttering palms
old tracings of plans for
some lives never lived
just imagined plans laid
but unpaid of attention

so much movement in fire
no stillness to memory
images waver and wander
fade in and fade out
unbidden yet welcome
beheld in their flicker
and shadow and smoke
but how did my mind
become caught in the blaze
why do bits of me burn
like the dead leaves
of summer ephemeral
embers thin flittering
wisps lifting into the night

 

 

From my book Ephemera