A Poem a Day (754): The burning

The burning
 
If you say light is the thing worth saving,
why watch it burn? Why pay the attendance fee?
 
You bathe in smoke for what purpose
only to walk a tightrope sinking sound?
 
You like the shine, but dim the light,
wear sunglasses rather than feel the might.
 
You watch sound rather than listen in
as if to do so would extinguish your grin
 
and every secret feeling within it
as if it wasn’t worth deciphering at all.
 
You can walk the talk, but you can’t feel it,
taste the worth yet not want to live it,
 
dance a heathen’s breath bereft of music,
throw a disc for a dog to loosen its bite,
 
as if to listen now would be an offence
to the parasite eating your heart dying out.
 
Copyright Vickie Johnstone, November 15, 2026