Echoes of love

Sitting by a fire in the Minnesota night

Listening to the crackle of the flames

And the life of night by the lake

Breathing in the summer air

Of a lost retreat, I am humbled

Not by what I have learned

But by the lesson of futility

Which only comes when

All other lessons have failed

There is no reasoning

No last pleas, just crackling fire

And the sounds of realization

Sitting by a fire in the Minnesota night

Listening to the dying echoes

Of a love that is fading