there is a fire burning in the center of my chest.

can you feel it?
you must be able to feel it, even you, so far across the ocean.

i cannot hold it in.
i do not want to hold it in.
it is all that is good and true in me, setting everything alight.

the fire does not discriminate.
it burns for the homeless man on the freeway entrance ramp,
the single brown leaf on the tree,
the dog on my bed.

the fire burns with passion and purpose.
it is a funeral pyre for the dead;
it turns coal into diamond;
it is a beacon in the darkest night.

the fire is fierce and wise and holy.

it is lighting the way toward a wild, joy-filled life.