it feels like years but it was just hours ago when I finally let the flame burning in the pit of my soul free for the first time for all to see and I screamed for the first time for all to hear
smoke billowed from my mouth and as they looked in and saw my throat all scars and burns they were horrified and shocked at how bad I had let it get
they tried to put it out but they couldnβt know that it had been put out for a long while now that the black clouds were all a shadow of what had once been an all-consuming fire that burned silently behind my eyes charring everything that passed through them before I could ever even know if it was beautiful or not
but this could have all happened to someone else with the same burnings that go unnoticed, unfelt by most because thatβs how I remember it the man talking on the telephone was not me and the world I exposed myself to was not her
so was the fire revealed? is it still a pile of ash? are the embers put out? am I finally free?
I could not tell you even if I listened very, very closely