After the fire and after the embers,
After the smoke
and choking on words
After the fire, it's quiet
and it could still burn black
if not held back
A hot silence that travels
in a slither on the ground
words burning through
beams crashing down
After the fire,
love still remembers
words like hot ashes
that hang like burnt fruit
and truth,
truth like a stillness
and not what it seems
Love with its promises
if you'll just be its slave
Love like a wave
if only you claim it
Truth for a mirror
but insists that you name it
After the fire,
so little left to say
words stir the embers
burning even as they're true
After the fire,
it's all you ever knew
You ask again
words fall into silence
and the silence burns
right through
After the fire still glow the embers
After the fire, it's love that remembers
After the fire, it's love that burns true
~XineAnn