The Torchbearer

I Had no idea the promises made

borne of lusty, clumsy moments would yield

a spark of life, and blaze anew

though the old fire waned, and its hunger slaked

a burgeoning blaze, on a still green torch,

caressed, cared for, carried by me.

Even the most raging conflagrations of my youth

two pyre's roaring, licking the sky, scorching the heavens

can never compare to the heat and light shed,

shed gay-ly, whimsically, ever radiantly, so easily

by something so frail, a torch so small, so simply snuffed

Such delicious irony! I carry her, yet she lights the way

lacking the vivacious luminescence cast with vigor

i would have never seen how dark and twisted

the caverns of man-kinds burdens really are.

It's easy to groan, and wail to the heavens

"oh how my arm hurts, to bear this burden"

The truth is, without this torch, I would be lost

you'll never know how hard that is to say, until you mutter it.

even under the burden of holding it aloft, always.

It's hard to admit the truth

"I'll never, ever grow tired of carrying this torch"

because I know someday I'll have to set it down

you'll never know how hard that is to admit, until crushed by the utterness of it

even under the burden of setting it down, eventually

I am a torchbearer

I am the keeper of truths

And I am a child of wonder, and amazement

staring at a simple torch

brought to tears of burden, and joyous elation of freedom

in the same flicker of light

I am The Torchbearer.