Fires

a recollection of a life I’ve never lived

feels so vivid, the stretching of the streets

I know I’ve never drifted. 

memories I’ve been ‘gifted’ 

I can’t greet you as a friend,

‘even though I knew we were brothers’

tell me how come I can still taste the air 

and feel the heat of the Midwest?

I’m always lost in this journey,

journeys starting far away from here,  

this is not the new age, I am barren 

and yet I am never far fetched

I’ll continue to be remembered 

differently to who I am,

and as the years resolve and time stagnates

fate has never been so unrewarding 

I’ve spent my life sleepwalking 

pulling metaphorical covers 

over my tired eyes, directionless   

floundering around like a fish

with no fins, broken from the hip

with a hook through the lip, 

I’m lost in need of conveyance

and as the beartrap of time devours

all that tries to outrun it

I’ll light fires to guide me through

the small hours, mapping my journey

and leading me home