Day to day we’re always told that we need to be

the utmost best we can be; to shine brighter than

the last and burn with more intensity. Flames

blazing and creeping up the walls. Any higher

and we’ll all collapse, but that’s what they want,

right? They want us to push ourselves and be the

brightest in the bunch but when the flames consume

us, then it’s our own fault if we crumble to the ground

because they’re obsessed with the sight of an open

flame and the vulnerability it claims. It can burn, it

can melt away, it can be dowsed with water. They

lust at the thought of being the extinguisher to the

flame. But fire fights back. It may seem easy to

alleviate its flame but fire beckons with its beauty

only to burn…

(E.A.)