creators of flames

your body is perfect in the dark

beneath
that blind overbearing bark
is green tenderness
unscarred

and I sense

in the gentle turbulence
of sleep
the earth's rosin
rising

crevasses widening

as if lightning split
or a match lit
inside the shredded heartwood
dry as tinder

waiting for the crisp wind

of dawn
you and I
creators
of flames