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We drank coffee and smoked cigarettes as the sun rose.
We spoke in philosophical rhymes, unaware of the passage of time.
I realize now that the love we had is lost.
You reach for me, but I am a phantom. Long ago, I stopped reaching back.
Still, what we had—the raw and unearthly attraction, the bond forged between our two souls—is unlike anything I’ve ever known.
I will be alone until love strikes my heart like it once did.
I want a love that burns me to ash and then resurrects itself from the remnants.
I want a love that bleeds, gives, and never makes me question my worth.
If I can’t have that, I am content with nothing at all.

-Rhia Clay
You lied with grace.
I bowed with love.

You took my fire,
left me ash.

I saw your face,
and lost my faith.

You left.
Still,
you called me
light.
Steve Page Mar 5
Beginning with ash.
Leading to blood and tears.
Ending with love declared
out of the grave
into a new light's dawn.

Lent gives pause.
Jesus gifts life.
Seeing a few ash crosses today.
Maria Feb 26
My current life is in rewind mode.
I’m looking for answers. I’m looking for codes.
Calmness for me is like a ghost.
I’m looking for answers. They are foremost.

There’s no need for sorrow, no need for cry.
It counts for nothing. It's all a lie.
I need to find the very twist.
But time doesn’t slow down at least.

I’m going backwards. My memory’s tricky.
It keeps all in mind. It is so sticky.
I rake up all: how loved, how fought,
How I forgave, and how I sought.

I spilled into ash, but I got up.
I saved myself, but others closed up.
I’m digging, throwing, looking for answers.
It beats me whole. It’s like a cancer.

What if that's all a fiction, a wrong?
Like the Atlantis, sunk too long.
A legend, which is almost forgotten.
And me, who wasn’t loved as a rotten.

And now I’m going back again,
Ridiculous, clumsy, unhelpful, mundane.  
My world relocated a long time ago.
It’s an emptiness warehouse, a storage of Echo.
This poem is a kind of revelation, a confession. It is too important and too pain. Thank you for reading it.
m Feb 14
my arms are static
my legs are rocky air
my torso dips into
the skyward of mattress

I brought yesterday in my hands to set out in the sun
it didn’t take long to burn right up
my eyes trail the flecking ash in the air

there’s nothing i wish to hide

yet i sit like one car
parking lot tar matches the sky
at 3 am

is the static channel on the tv
still there when you turn off the screen

i think i see it when i close my eyes
Steve Page Dec 2024
You can only weigh the smoke
after the ashes.

You can only measure the man
after the tears.
Walter Raleigh had a wager that he could weigh the smoke from his piped tobacco.  Look it up - he won the bet by weighing the ashes.
Karma Nov 2024
To forge a poem,
A bar not resinous.
To steal a fire
From top a precipice.
To bear the heat
Of finite flames.
Embrace the hurt,
Engulf the pain.
Feel your wrist
Become alight,
Feel your hand
Begin to write,
Feel your thoughts
Escape the brink,
And feel your pen
Run off its ink.
Sparked inspiration
Ignites internal,
And burning paper
Becomes infernal.
Ashes, scorching
Stack in piles,
And ashen writing
Line in files.
A dying fire
Has lost its flare,
So write again
If you so dare.
Just light your hand
Ablaze again,
Consume the torch,
And raise your pen.
Lyla Aug 2024
A slowly suffocating fire
Turning fuel to charcoal
No bright flames of light and warmth
Until stoked by disruption
it sputters to life
A final intense burn
that falls into ashes
Some things end beautifully...
Maria Jul 2024
Meeting you felt like a spark
Kindling catching fire.
The catalyst that started it all.

Sparking ember; light flashes
Delight and glee at the power of it all.
Life starting.

As we picked up speed,
We lost control
We lost ourselves
We lost the magic.

The twinkle of possibility
Turned into fear
Of what we could become.

The fire was not contained.
It kept spreading
We did not how to slow it down
How to stop it
How to control it.

Molten lava dripped down
Leaving behind a barren mountain.
Burnt trees and homes
Destruction.

You loved me so fiercely that I burned,
Now you’ll only be left with ashes.

I hope you learned the risks of playing with fire.
Prompt was incorporate the line, “You loved me so fiercely that I burned. Now you’ll only be left with ashes.” 40 weeks ago.
Sudzedrebel Jun 2024
Charcoal hands
To hold my ignited love,
The only reciprocity
Is to be maimed & scarred
With flames beyond the fire's control.
Gasoline loves a match-
Bright & hot, destructive, fast.
Burns out to within, and then
It's all exhausted;
Embers smolder to ash.
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