A distant voice
tells you, with kindness
Don’t stand there in the flames

You hear the warning
and with coals around your feet
You remain perfectly still

Who can see the strength you summon,
straining with every sinew
merely to survive

Who can understand
the crushing disappointment
that greets you every day

Because despite a desperate hope,
while you slept,
nothing changed

So now you conjur some persona,
a character tough enough
to hide inside

To face the day, you breathe
in those searing embers,
you smile at them and breathe

All the while fighting
to each time fill your lungs
with more of that acrid grey

You hunger for the clean air,
for the lost comfort
of feeling safe in your skin

You can’t think what it would mean
to move, with gritted teeth,
away from that familiar pain

So be patient as you wait
with eyes and ears open
and please never forget

That distant voice
telling you, with kindness
Don’t stand there in the flames.