When the fire fades
When the songbirds fall silent
as the embers die
and your vision grows clear
you take a breath
and you swear you can smell the very scent of silence
though to your ears the world never goes quiet
the way your mind gathers and calculates
just how many leaves that tree has and
the exact way in which you skin sparkles…
for all that clarity, your memories are dark and dim
like you lived your whole life in a smoky bar
and here is the sunlight
but you're sure if you wanted
--which you surely don't--
you could remember every second of the past few days
such pain…
you thought this was heaven,
but from the way your throat burns and how lost you feel
you're starting to wonder,
could this be hell?
