Firewood

- Zainab Syed -

Perhaps the idea is to burn slowly to let yourself be fully broken by fire to catch spark and rise before turning into ash

and after to sit on the stone floor without any of your colour

Perhaps to live is to burn slowly

to burn slowly is to listen to the sound of your own firewood cracking to know you have let all of your warmth bleed into a room full of strangers to watch it latch onto them as they sing the night to sleep to know in the morning you will be swept aside

And to still be okay.