I was playing with fire
and knew it well.
All I wanted
was to be highly volatile,
paraffin to the flame I knew
still burned bright within you.
All I wanted
was to spark
watch the colours in the flame,
play a dangerous game
as our familiar fire
rekindled
to a faithless furnace
a passionate wildfire
of reckless desire,
racing and leaping
laying waste to the dry rules
and dusty social mores
that lay between us.

One tiny drop
of cold-water common-sense
kept temptation behind a fence
and a flickering fear of being burned
kept me from striking full against you,
but how I wished…

I wished we could
share sweat and heat
feel each others’ heartbeat,
alight and incandescent
with mutual desire,
dance with wild abandon
in the time-searing flames
of our can’t-forget fire.

Copyright © Sheona McCutcheon / Celtic Nomad 2003