inside down
 

Imagine a flame
can you see the bright burning
lighting everything above a certain point?
Can you feel the dark pool of shadows underneath?
Watch as the flame flickers and dies,
the coldness closing in.
You know it’s coming long before
you see it. You think of it when you light the candle
And you blow out the flame.

Imagine the opposite.
A pool of cold, clear water. You can warm it, freeze it.
The reflection is like human nature
when the surface ripples you see unimaginable depths

I can feel it surrounding me
there is no way out
the light flickers over the surface and the cold blue lives within the flame.
I burn the water, drown the flame,
but as I reach up I burn my fingers
and the water closes above my head
so that the reflection is upside down
inside out
and the sun bubbling in a different medium.

And sometimes I feel it warming me
I treasure the flame
until it flickers and sinks
where the shadows gain yet another inch
and I fail over and over
again to relight the candle to make the shadows disappear.

And the stars above me lift me up
till they fall down.

In this silent world I live