Love can be smoldering. Or it can be a dying flame.
Even though we are through February and the month of love, I wanted to focus on one more romance poem….even if it is about love gone wrong. This poem reminds me of a poem from my third book “Gather Seeds of Hope” called Ice Water https://thepracticalpoet.com/ice-water-from-gather-seeds-of-hope/. That poem is also about a break-up, as the main character in the poem has had enough and wishes to throw the other person down the proverbial drain. Fire and ice…such opposites, kind of like love and hate. However, unlike Ice Water, the following poem was written when I was very young, possibly even still in my teens. It is also one of the shortest poems I have ever written, as in more recent years my poems have evolved into longer verses that often tell a story.
In this poem, the person is watching flames dance in a fireplace and contemplating the lost romance. Eventually the flames die out, as did the relationship. I did enjoy the comparison of the dying romance to a flame that is losing its oxygen and slowly disappearing. A break-up can feel like that; like you can’t breathe or get enough oxygen as you watch hopes and dreams vanish, and the romance often dwindles to a small glow before dying out completely. Additionally, there is often one partner who does not wish to see the end of the relationship, and holds on to all hope until that last dying ember fades away and turns to ash.
Neither this poem nor Ice Water is autobiographical, but I am sure most people can relate on some level to a relationship turning sour. Sometimes the words just come to me and I have to let them grow and take shape, much like flames in a fire. I don’t write a lot about love and romance, either good or bad, so when the inspiration on that topic hits, I grab it quickly. Inspiration comes from many places, sometimes in places you least expect it, and suddenly an idea grows and takes shape.
The Last Waltz
Sitting by the fireside
It’s cold, lonely, dark outside.
I stare into the glowing flame,
I feel the chill and hear your name.
I didn’t quite know what to do
When you told me we were through.
I begged and pleaded you stay,
I watched you turn and walk away.
I wonder, as I watch the fire,
How the one I most desire
Could say he loves me then with a sigh
Kiss my cheek and say good-bye?
I watch the flames that light the room
And contemplate impending gloom.
The flames, somehow they hypnotize
And dry the moisture from my eyes.
I cannot cry, the tears won’t come.
My throat is dry, my body numb.
I speak your name and with a chill
I can’t believe I’d want you still.
One by one the flames do die.
They do a dance, then say good-bye.
Much like you who danced before
You waltzed forever out my door.
-K.A. Bloch-
