Scorched earth, the scent of charred evergreens
Thick, black smoke, the veil of death
Blazing embers and soot carried by the autumnal breeze
Asphyxiating every desperate breath
The fury of flames but a passionate wildfire
Spreading 'cross the flourishing land
The flowerbeds are charcoal, the tall trees expire
A trail of destruction written in the sand

Unfazed and curious, a slender silhouette watches
A forlorn watchman of the nature's will
Admiring the tango of the infernal clutches
The eyes of an eagle, a stranger on the hill
A chuckle, a smirk, a pair of matches at his feet
Thick, black smoke filling up his maw
Exhales the poison calmly, a swift step to leave
The cigarette **** descends from his claw

Alas, the conflagration not caused by fate
But a crime of man, an arson most vile
The price for indifference, an outbreak of hate
Demise of pure beauty in a mantle of fire

Where has the time gone by?
You used to love me
with all your heart.
And now you love me
with only the words
your mouth could afford
to decorate.

Where has the time gone by?
A chainsmoker bids goodbye
to his last cigarette.
And a lover,
oh her lover's love...
has begun to die.
Both flames
eventually lose ignition.
And oh,
where has the love gone by?

Snared, and fettered
Chained to hope eternal
Freedom is waiting
Just there, you see
Around the corner it lies
And when the sun streams down
In a glorious display of dawn
On the wanting faces of the broken
They will cry out as one

May fire scorch the wicked
And return the world to ash

i. The world is burning.
A little above the place that
Seeks the greatest blessing of the sun,
It is burning with grenades and bombs
Flying around like table tennis *****
With children sleeping to the lullaby
Of their parents'cries.

ii. The world is burning.
A little far away from my house
Around the nook of the street
A group of humans are fighting
They're burning and getting burnt
The fire consumes their body
And the ego their soul.

iii. So when I asked mom to
Go to that nook that reeks of fire crackers
To buy the ice cream blue lagoon,
She kept staring at me
The way she would whenever I'd ask for too much.
I showed her the red colour thread that she had forcefully tied around my neck
Because she had said that it would protect me all the time
I kept waiting for her to utter a word
But she didn't say anything
And I didn't go
To the place that was burning.

iv. I saw on TV the flames that hugged the top of the houses
And danced on scooters
Making them blacker than charcoal,
Near my house at the corner of the street.
There were bodies on the street,
Frozen like sleeping statues.
They had those threads
Wound around their hands and necks
Not one but tens of them.

v. It's night time now.
I sleep hugging her
As tightly as my fragile muscles permitted.
The coldness of her body tingles my fingertips
And the roughness stings.
There are noises of people arguing
In the background.
But I,
I don't care.
Because they're burning the world
And my world is already burnt.

- Kavya Mukhija

If souls are flames
then may mine
burn bright
tearing through
the darkness
of life's night.

i have been burning my whole life.
encased in immaculate flames,
flying too close to the sun
on these fragile wax wings.

— an image of icarus

It's hard to get your hopes up
When you have none to begin with
They've vanished like the feelings you used to feel for me
These nights spent with the shadows,
I reflect on the wrongs I've done
Holding on to tomorrow
In the wake of things so far gone

I've become disheveled
My conscience burned away
My eager mind reminds me of the time I spent with you
This hell that burns within me
Can no longer be tamed

I don't write like I used to -
using excuses, like
"These are the times you write about" -
but it doesn't come, the pen has dried
the thoughts have drifted out to sea
out to pasture - off to sleep for eternity -
I don't taste food much these days,
I usually push it past my tongue deep into
my stomach like fodder into a furnace, crackling flames
boiling my voice box, wooden bones, I don't have much to say
Too much I feel lost, wasted space in a crowded room
I don't call you in this cold war, and the phone won't ring
I don't call you in this cold war, and the phone won't ring.

I watch our love go up in flames
Feel my soul catch fire too
Summer reminds of happier days
The face I once knew

Distance is dangerous wind
Fanning flames, vacant of your smile each day
Your heart so numb you cannot feel the burn
Hear it beat even miles away

Patience the quality I lack
Forget to give my feelings time
So these hasty decisions catch up
When it's too late to change my mind

In forgotten days when your heart was better
Pleasant, simple, and unaware
Friendship quietly develops rust
Photographs more than eyes can bear

Broken glass, shattered hearts
It has all lead to this dead end
Perfectly synced self-destruction
Beautifully orchestrated lies descend

Peeking through darkness, cartwheeling midair
No stars left in our sky
The night alive with melancholy
Sorrowful birdsong in gusts low and high

My heart suspended in tragic beauty
Soul dies a little more every day
Waiting for eyelids to finally open to the light
Radiating from the glow of flames guiding the way