If I sought destruction, would you guide me? Hold my hand as I step forth, into the flames, to be cleansed, lost to everything except your touch and the euphoric warmth. Can we revel in the fire and each other, and let go for a while. Find a reprieve in the embers of lust and ecstasy that kept the cold at bay, at least for a time? Would you help me make my bed beneath the ashes of everything I once loved, and share in my sorrow with me atop the last warm coals of the blaze that kept each of our personal shadows barred from our battered souls? All I want, as the warm glow lulls me to sleep, is to taste the sweet smoke on your lips as you whisper my favorite lie. I’ll protect you. I’ll keep you safe. I’ll save you from the darkness. Once upon a time our pyre towered above the world and we rejoiced in the warmth. We didn’t despair at the destruction that was our salvation because, in that one moment we were engulfed by the flames, we were light blind to the chaos that was our lives and the monsters lurking in the dark. All that’s left, all that exists in our little world, is us, and the beautiful fire, the graceful way the flames dance to their silent symphony, a lullaby, sad and sweet…
