Flames rise in spirals hungry yet discerning
Heat leans close curious
My pulse stumbles but does not retreat
Fear arrives late;courage arrives earlier
Sparks test my boundaries—
touching skin tasting story
Pain prepares itself but finds no invitation
Fire recognizes its equal
Ash circles my feet like a silver crown
Smoke carries away versions of me no longer needed
Clarity forms in the shape of rising heat
Identity glows through ember light
When the flames bow low
I understand why I survived
This fire came not to destroy—
but to reveal