By Firelight

By Firelight

I feel the leaves crackle beneath my feet.

I look up and find you

haloed in fire light.

Your effervescent glow in the raging bonfire

fills me with a heat not known

by mere flickering flame.

The sun has set behind me,

the last vestiges of day have finally given up

their steely grasp on the expectant revellers.

They mill about the firelight

like moths drawn to its warm embrace.

I stand clear in the newly formed shadow

watching, the light catch your hair

as the soft tendrils dance

in the breeze of the chilled evening.

You move around the crowd

capturing all those you look upon.

I wonder when it was that you first seized

my heart and clamped it in your fist.

A tight embrace I would never relinquish.

Darkness takes the party,

the smell of burning permeates the air.

You and the firelight are the only barriers

to the cold night that seeps in

around our small gathering.

Hushed watchers huddle protectively,

both anxious and enthralled

by evening’s soft kiss on their cheek,

a tender stroke of its cold fingers down their necks

trails along their slender arms nestled against chests.

A shiver passes through your body

though you do not flinch,

just smile into the encroaching darkness

in anticipation of further delights

offered only in dark hours.

The sky explodes into life

illuminating the grounds once more,

touching all the faces with hues of green and red.

You see my face illuminated in man-made stars

destined to burn out in a heartbeat.

Your eyes penetrate my being

sending the cacophony of many fireworks

skittering to the back of my mind.

Our breath holds us, sentinels

watching the world catch light

and burn around us.

Reflected in your eyes I see myself

rooted, as the light of the world

rains down on me

and for a moment it is beautiful.

JC