Melita
they should have checked the ashes
of the women they burned alive
of the women they burned alive
She watched as he tried to tuck himself away – drown out the misery, the noise, everything else under an abyss of blankets. And the youth wouldn’t reach over to strike it from him. Wouldn’t know how to assist, how to take away all those burdens and woes and worries. Her gaze meandered away from him, and over the shadows on the wall from her candle – feeling very lost. Uncertain. Picking at pebbles and stones, as if they mattered, when there were boulders, monoliths, and cliffs to consider. “Is there anything I can do to help?” For any of it? A valid inquiry – not knowing what he required.
But it also felt like he didn’t want her there. That she wasn’t really needed. That some portions of them had fallen away, gone and gone and gone, split between their parallel similarities. Maybe she was another encumbrance to him.
Maybe the honeybee wasn’t a part of anything here. Maybe she was better off, sailing after ghost whales, reaching for massive bones. Out of the way.
Her worries and trepidation didn’t make it into her voiced thoughts. Instead, she rose from the floor, Fangorn slipping down to its hardened interior, the embers of her light flickering, smoking, fringing. She wouldn’t tell him. It’d just be one more thing. She wouldn’t be missed anyway. “I’ll leave you be then.”
But it also felt like he didn’t want her there. That she wasn’t really needed. That some portions of them had fallen away, gone and gone and gone, split between their parallel similarities. Maybe she was another encumbrance to him.
Maybe the honeybee wasn’t a part of anything here. Maybe she was better off, sailing after ghost whales, reaching for massive bones. Out of the way.
Her worries and trepidation didn’t make it into her voiced thoughts. Instead, she rose from the floor, Fangorn slipping down to its hardened interior, the embers of her light flickering, smoking, fringing. She wouldn’t tell him. It’d just be one more thing. She wouldn’t be missed anyway. “I’ll leave you be then.”
because it takes a single wild ember
to bring a whole wildfire to life
to bring a whole wildfire to life
