The thing I fear the most I need the most
to keep the bears at bay. Which bears are these?
These are the bears returning sleep-hungry to their cave.
Their cave - the one which I have defended with fire
and called home, the one which
now grows darker as the embers' final flickers
form growing, growling shadows conspiring menacingly
on the walls. My fire needs fuel, and I'm all out,
inside, all out of that somehow-I'll-survive
last-minute-luck I thought was mine to keep.
I've done all that is humanly possible, I think,
and I'm too far gone for miracles. The bears
wait for darkness to consume me.
I've always been afraid of fire.