Matches and Incense

 

It lit my world

It let me explore the crooks and crevices.

I realized the bumps.

I understood God's imperfections.

I praised God's intentions.

It burned with intensity.

It shook me—

Made me yearn to succeed,

Made me crave appreciation,

Made me desperate for love, for hate.

It taught me to be a creation.

A human.

After the light is the incense—

the marks left behind,

The ashes of past light,

The remnants of what was.

Rays of light,

The paths it etched.

The dimmed room,

Still bearing warmth,

But hollow in its hush.

I trace the smoke like memories—

Curling, fading,

Never quite leaving.