after you left I thought about you a lot
because it was better to have you in
my mind than to not have you at all

and after you left I wrote about you a lot
because it was better to have you down
on paper than to not have you at all

then one day I lit a match and
burned the papers until they resembled
the ash that I had become
and their shade was as dark as I felt

I scorched the memory of you
within my mind and
my thoughts drifted into the night
like embers from a fire
but every time one of those embers
fluttered down onto my body
it melted into my skin and burned
my fragile frame

it stung me like a bee but
ignited my entirety
and electrified my mosaic soul

I have yet to meet another person
who can light a fire
in my hollow heart
maybe it’s better to go up in flames
than to go feeling nothing at all