Embers and soft jazz 

Shifting logs dancing flames

This easy afternoon 

Of recalling distant loves

Adventures lived 

passions fired in ledgers

gathering memory dust

Fears that were gargantuan 

Only in their future tense

Have faded to oblivion 

In their passing

Lusts that demanded fulfillment 

Only to disappear after that

As hollow things devoid

Of lasting thought

Passions that enkindled

Acts of love and hate

Still burn as flaming pyres

Or watch towers to warn of 

Repetition 

Follies that were far from

Frivolous but had the guise

Of solemnity till unmasked

By an older wiser me

The embers glow the logs aflame 

This lazy afternoon of

Walking gently amidst the ruins