Staying Late in the Afterglow

The resulting fire is your responsibility

Photo by Sumit Mangela on Unsplash

More of the same — why
does the wind rage
and rattle the embers?
Because it is the wind.

You cannot defeat the air
with your tiny lungs.
Kings built walls and the wind
knocked them down,

cleaved the noses
from their stone faces.
You have the power
to close your umbrella,

to take down the chimes,
to close up the office so papers
do not ruffle from your desk.
Or choose a paperweight:

a bronze pyramid of Giza,
a copper six-sided die,
a glass orb that reflects light
the wind cannot blow away.

The resulting fire is your responsibility.
A flame does not start
without a careless ember
alighted from your hand.

©️ Trapper Markelz 2022