Burn in One Day

The sidewalk was in

Searing heat all day

Was dripping into

The street in seconds

Bled into minutes

And in them stood

The old woman

Outside her home

Stood a life size

Toy fire truck

Stood twenty

Scrambling men

Fell all of her

Possessions into ash

And she told

One of the fighters

For the rest of her

Years would burn

Her grandmothers watch

The wedding gown for

Daughters

The tea set from

Friends

The table from China

Her life old piano keys

For the rest of

Her years she

Stood crying

“Would these things

Burn in my mind”

While her hand fell

On her shoulder she smiled

The fighter had listened

And the hoses water stopped

To let the fire burn itself out

Said he, “I hope to relieve your doubt.”