Shadows in the Licking Heat

When I am drawn, a moth to a bright flame

I fight and fight; too close and I will burn.

Fear prevents me from speaking the sweet name

Of the one for which in the night I yearn.

Every day I have to act and pretend

Quench my fever; hold fast to it inside.

My light, my glory, yet only a friend

I have to forget, before I can’t hide.

Late in the dark of this longed one I dream,

Wake up in a state of comfort and glee,

Reality returns; then I must scream,

What will never be mine, torturing me.

I pray for the fire within me to wane,

But now I smolder, locked in love’s cruel pain.