those candlesticks keep me alive

candlesticks fell on the mattress

and the room is on fire.

(watch the notebooks in the corner;

those stories are unfinished)

we can fall asleep here,

if you like.

you can watch the flames lick my skin.

(you used to)

different, different, different.

does the heat feel the same?

still catch just under our tongues,

still leave singed trails on the carpet?

how many ways

can you unburn a room?

if i beg,

will the flames eat me whole?

because

to stop playing with fire

is certainly out of the question.

14