Things We Lost In The Fire

I was scrolling through the cable-channel guide a few nights ago and came across this film title: Things We Lost in the Fire. There came a teardrop and...in the blink of an eye...I was lost in metaphor.

I feel that’s what I’ve become: a rummager through ashes. Seems as if there have been a great many fires of late. Some were accidents, others arson, several were acts of self-immolation. Each destroyed whatever was still standing.

What is there to say as one toes aside debris in search of anything of consequence? I search for evidence of past happiness. I search for mementoes of joy. I inhale black soot and dream of what was and of what might have been. I search for clues, answers, something...
anything I can clutch in my soiled hands for solace.

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But I take what I can get and piece
together a life. Being human
means dragging the heavy weight
of what you almost were behind you.

--Marvin Glasser

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