Didn’t We Shine

what it’s like to burn
to feel the years fall away
like skin shed raw flesh
blood pounding through veins
unclogged untwisted

limbs strong and heart
each part each chamber
beating to rhythm of flames
of a thousand candles
handle anything and everything
hands unmarked reaching
teaching all the rest

the roof is falling
we don’t care the night
is calling moonsongs
heart songs strings plucked
all night long

melting down the heat
sweat on upper lips
pooling in the creases wild
righteous indignation needing
action leads to fixing
needing touching everywhere
at once

trading down measured ways
music plays
a soft refrain the rain will
be our soundtrack as
curtains fall stars fall
in fading stages morning
dawns with cooling dew
breezes scatter ashes

just one breath and sleep
filled eyes closed to the sun
the fashions change
we maybe find a slower roast
makes sweeter saucy meat
we chewed it up it spit
us out but once we were
sparklers spinning in the dark
fireworks and fireflies
are only beautiful when
they glow and then the night
swallows light
and we are gone

but didn’t we shine

19 thoughts on “Didn’t We Shine”

  1. Jae Rose

    Hi Dee..this is one powerful piece..the verses seem to flit between soft and harsh..fire and air..I liked the sense of re-birth..of enduring both the heat and the recklessness of breath in order to shine..Jae

    1. Dee Post author

      thank you Jae – I think there are perks sometimes to getting older. We might not burn as bright or hot but we last longer lol
      I think too, that life is a series of little deaths and rebirths..

  4. Old Egg

    What a way to ease away those pains and cares of age to recall those sparkling times when we were mighty champions, heroes, achievers. Don’t look in the mirror, look into the past and say what a life I have lived. Sparkle on Dee!

  5. chrisd

    This was absolutely lovely. Oh my word! This should be shared. That last stanza blew me away.

    “We chewed it up, it spit us out, but once we were…”

    Loved this. Seriously.

    1. Dee Post author

      Thank you Chris – sorry your comment was sitting in the spam pile and I have rescued it 🙂
      Again – thank you. I read it at a poetry reading and they seemed to like it.

  8. Wendy Erman

    I can almost HEAR this! Is that weird? It’s very musical and thus I can imagine it put to music and something I’d listen to on the radio or download to the Ipod!

  10. Kate

    Oh, yeah–we did shine! I love this; it’s exactly how it was. I’m working on a long piece about those days and your poem captures it all so well.
    Kate

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