The Flame

It started as a single flame, a candle illuminating the dark around me,

Bringing sense and meaning in a world once shrouded in darkness and confusion.

I didn’t seem to notice it growing, consuming all that surrounded me.

The once comforting glow and warmth replaced with a scathing wildfire.

At first, I embraced the brightly burning flames that threaten to engulf me, taking me with them.

But as the fiery walls surrounded me, a panic overcame me, smothering and dousing the flames.

Little did I think of the dark that would return in its absence.

Meaning and sense drained from the world around me as the embers that once brought them were overcome.

Now I sit in shock, shivering in the dark and cold who were once my only companion.

I know it would be impossible to rekindle that flame, attempting to reignite the scathing, unquenchable flames with the cold ashy remnants.

Yet I can't help but feel remorseful and sentimental as the breeze slowly erodes and washes away the ash of what once was.