By Leah Cameron Ruggieri

Our faces are all flushed pink with the cold
And we stretch our hands outward for warmth
Our eyes reflect the orange of the fire we sit around
And reveals the softness it brings out in us

We’ve gathered around the flames in the blazing glory of who we are
In the boundlessly reckless joy that burns inside of us
Remaining alight no matter how hard the cold tries to smother it

We know it won’t last
That tonight won’t survive tomorrow
We know that we will grow dim

As the grey of twilight takes over and the grass dampens with dew
We will need to leave this world we made with each other
And enter one made without

But where the fire of us burned, the ashes of us remain
The wind will keep them safe for us
Because a fire can’t burn out if it never burned at all

We will grow dull
And we will fade
But now we are joyful

We are honest and safe and burning with love
We are bright
And we are warm

But even come morning
When we are nothing more than ashes in the wind

There will always be embers
Waiting to burn again

–

Cameron is a sixteen year old girl from Canada, who likes to spend her time reading and writing of almost any kind with a preference for poetry. She also loves listening to and playing music and is inspired by her favourite artists, Hozier and Noah Kahan.