I am Fire

Underneath the naked night is I, a flame.

I, a flickering fire feeding on earth, wood, leaf,
The thought of birdsong under a clear sky,
On dreams, hope, or images of the ocean,
On the memory of our first meeting and the imagined next,
Am the sum of all these parts.

My eyes are ephemeral as they look towards the stars
Just as my wishes as they rush outwards from me.
The clouds, tired of hearing your name, give me rain.

I flicker, fading, each burst of flame an arm
Reaching out and only catching a ray of starlight
Aged a hundred million or so:

The fragment of sunset burning into the darkness
Fades too fast to recognize the deceit.

I, never satiated, consume all beneath me
If only to climb the tower on which
I have set you up on.