Fire Redux

Fire Day
 
he was naked all the year
they came to talk and gaze
and every city had no shame
 
they came to say the days
are as they are
 
the place and time are evil
the dance arranged;
drinks punctuate the festive drizzle
thirst is not assuaged.
 
smoke fills up a chimney
torch-eyes split and drift
hot breath bends and blackens rage
lost things hoist on air.
 
it’s a voice
breaking on a vase
it’s a vice
tightening on the moist
night-raves of a mouse
stunned on the hotplates
of a maze
 
it’s the haze, the ivory handle
on the crooked bladed chance
the conversation bated
by the columns and the gates
secured this way by chain
by birds too proud and terrible

to burn on fire day