We go to one fire
and another,
stirring the kindling
where life is.
Thrust our hands
in the dwindling,
the fire burns down
then flares again,
warming the meaning
of our intention
and enduring.
Until such time
the fires of our life
become its ashes,
touched to our forehead
Ash Wednesday’s sign.
In turn,
washed from our face
by the rains of spring
our eyes open,
new fires catching
in our souls again.