for Beau, Mark & Jan

take embers
place them in your memory
and think of the times
when you sat side by side
in friendship,
and with those kindred
stared silently and simply
into a campfire or fire-place
while night’s fortress
held you bound and
kept you wanting
to stay close to
that source
of warmth and light,
held your quietness and focus
with the glow and dance of embers
as they provided their
ancient solace, and
in deepening stillness
how in contemplation together
and in solitude
you found yourself returning
to the hearth at the heart of it all

Martinos © 2018