Remembering

I saw you in the fire today,
Flames flickered your face into focus,
Darting shots of caramel and lilac heat,
Your expression all moving colours.
You offered a smile, a stolen gift,
I smiled back. It took me back
To a time when laughing, we both sat,
Sitting still, staring into the grate,
Poking at charcoal shards,
A quiet joke shared.
We whispered of nothing
And those nothings became my everythings
And yours too.
Safety in twos.
One is not a number to brave the world with,
One summons nothingness back.
You’ll never come back.
Only in thoughts’ debris,
And in the slices of memory that cut deep into me,
And in the fire at the end of a long day.