Our flame light has faded to shadow… The last hiss of our candle has come… It's sooty wick now cold and black… That delicate glow once soothed us…   Long ago, our rose bloomed amongst ruins… Within the warm breath of the candle… Whose flickering flame...

“a leafy bloom’s pledge"   Firm will enters through hidden morphemes, a vow carried without leaf or bloom. Resolve bends but does not shatter, its path refusing the easy blossom.   Leaf trembles against the restless air, flower opens to a waning flame. Soil shifts beneath uncertain steps, and...