201. Red Lighter

I sat by a fire with a red lighter

waiting for my life to burn brighter.

And all of my dreams would float higher,

until they would die along with the fire,

when the fire finally burns out.

And I knew that it would never be,

the things I wanted—things I dreamed.

I could travel the lands, travel the sea,

do anything that would set me free.

And yet, my life was still a flame.

It’s kind of sad, you might say,

how life had turned out this way.

And though it was a beautiful day,

and the children had come out to play,

their lives still burned like candles.

And as I held up my red lighter,

and lit the flame so it would burn brighter,

all my dreams that had drifted higher

would no longer die alongside the fire.

My dreams, unlike me, would live on.

And you know, how things are,

my red lighter, my beating heart,

would fly just like a shooting star,

and it would take me somewhere far,

somewhere so that it wouldn’t die.