scent carries the strongest memories
and when i smell the smoke of
a distant wildfire
i remember you

i hear sirens
and remember the song of you calling to me
– tempting me with your promise –
but by the name that would have crashed me into the rocks
had i let it live

i taste salt and blood
whiskey and water
ash
and lust
i had thought my palate cleansed
yet the flavor remains in my throat

when i dream about you, i often wake unsure whether i am drenched in my own sweat or yours
sometimes i can still feel the strength of your hands
around my neck
around my thighs
sometimes i can still feel your body along with my own
i wonder if you still think about me when you touch yourself

scent carries the strongest memories
and when i smell the smoke of a
distant wildfire
i remember you

Scalding my palm
On her rosy skin.
We are young, with a love that's warm
In it's infancy; honest, open, and giving.
I burn for her,
A wildfire of desire
With no forests' end.

I yearn to be the
One she does, when
She learns to love again.

"You're so sweet!" "What a cutie!"
Is that the best you can do?
Those are defaults and fillers
I don't want to hear that from you
I want you to point out the things
That the general public don't see
The sides to me that surprise you
Normally masked by timidity
You get to see my lion
But still recognize my lamb
Tell me I'm so much more
Than strangers might think I am
There is a fervid spirit in me
But it's cloaked in a subtle attire
While the entire world calls me simple and sweet,
I need you to call me
A wildfire.

Have you ever seen the way
A bushfire sets beautifully ablaze
The deepest, darkest forest trees
A melting-orange intensity
It brings about an ash of gold
Like the smothering dust of charcoal
The wildest destruction ever to see
In the eyes of a son who came from me

Starting fires
and suggesting that they sit
in flimsy metal pits
from hardware stores or such
is all well and good
until flames remind you
they have no gods,
no morals, just free will,
while the smoke marks you its own

Out of truth,
You started wildfires across my heart.
The noxious fumes choke me.
I'm blinded,
But dance in the flames as we persist.

No matter what I do
You know what are
You know what you did

I say farewell to my fighting chance
It didn’t matter in the end
No matter what I did

I sold myself to the devil
I’m living your life sentence
Carrying the burden of your sins

I’ll never forget those wildfires
That spread me paper thin
Destroying everything
And all the evidence

Now no matter what I do
I’ll always be detached
These branches I carry are heavy
On this dark and lonely path

I am a shell of the person
I used to be before
Though nothing survives the winter
Except those wildfires
And the ghosts of my troubled past