Campfire Songs

By Paisley McCoy

The pocket of sunshine crackled and hissed

It stretched its arms to its home in the sky; Amber logs cough up new stars

Specters find home in the silver smoke And an old couple hides from the cold.

It was a silent night with cloudless skies

The crickets and the bats had gone to rest But the couple sat by their captured light, Watching the tentacles reach For the heavenly night.

The woman had left herself long ago; Leaving a husk in her husband’s care. Her mind a forgotten paper note Dropped in the river and washed away

She sang to the sun in its iron cage, No lyrics or words to ease the pain

A haunting tune like the whistling wind; A bellow like the owls in the trees overhead.

The man begged the doctors “One more year More time for the hummingbirds, for warm toast in the morning. One more year so she might smell the flowers And see the fawns in the spring once again.”