I watch the glowing fire burn,
The black of the night is overwhelming,
almost swallowing the slow burn of light,
I was alone just like that fire, slowly burning out,
My eyes water from the smoke,
Choking back tears I fight sleep,
The night killed my family men like demons,
Set aflame my ancestral home,
I was a coward escaping the flickering death,
I buried my younger brother whose sixth birthday was last week,
The smoky fire fights to live,
I poke it with a stick which it hungrily swallows,
We only needed a nudge to survive
