Fire and Earth

How can I love

in a vacant room,
gasping at air

too thick for my lungs.

Voiceless conversations

repeat themselves,

so loud in their silence,

they crack the night.

Ice-gray air in the morning sky

warns of looming squalls,

terrible winds that will

lay me prone.

A downpour of recollect

washes sins,

erodes fear,

clears the way but

How can we love

when yours is earth

and mine, fire.

I burn you.

Without flame,

I am not protected

from the harsh terrors

of a shadowed eve

And always at risk

of exposure

when the rising light
falls on my heart.