As the evening sky presses down on the distant hillside,
the last lines of light fan apart, streaking thin,
like pale darts flashing in a final instant
disappearing beyond in the world unseen.   

Chapters closing on his tongue,
swords sheathed, farewells laid into their beds for sleep.
Unity, rebirth, or eternal departure
resolution rests in the soft exhaling words.   

Fizzling sparks flame bright, swift recollection 
calling for the mind to acknowledge,
the heart swept up in the current of meaning,
lost before she can say his name. 

Does everything that ends burst apart before it dies?
The sunset's retreating brilliance,
a storyteller's dagger gleaming, twisting,
The mind's feeble memory, illuminating an old face.   

How sad are the finalities of fire,
whisping, choking light, shrinking from the air—
a dying dance falling beneath the underside of ash,
buried in the remnants of its own consumption.