Fire in the night;
the knowing winds fan through
stored experience,
blow knowledge about the sky
and scatter ashes down the thin
night air,
drifting and turning in
hearts-pain;
soft sheets of sorrow
tuck around a lady, crippled,
as her home turns red and twists
and a small dog shivers;
charred fragments, burnt offerings
of love and hope
settle in her quiet lap.
A man beside himself, beside him-self,
dragging out his past, laying it
out under watching eyes;
scorched by his burning
acquisitions,
choking on old dreams, stifling in
his memories;
a man risks life to rescue death.
(July,
1989)
