Out of the Ashes

Fire

you warm me

with your amber kisses

glow of remembrance

heat

of love and desire

which burned too brightly

then was gone

leaving only ashes.

Tears

you are the heart’s silent rain

that fall

over so many years

as I sit alone

in the dark pit

grown cold now

only memories

to keep me warm.

Tears

as you fall

you turn the ash to clay

and this substance

becomes workable over time

turning and turning

on the wheel of the year

navigating

all the backwards and forwards

of longing

desire

heartache.

Empathy and understanding

are the water

that forms this dark sludge

into something

awesome

terrible

Yet beautiful.

I contemplate

the surface of this vessel

I made

cracked and crazed in places

with the deeply etched scar marks

of tempered pain

desire and love

the fire

that alchemises

and transforms

this suffering

into a vessel

which contains

and in containing

heals