Unquenched
written by: Linda Mzapi
It threatened to quench the fire inside of her
But the fire was too fierce for such rat talk.
It shouted back NO.
It was adamant, hot and too ablaze to be quenched by such petty experience.
It had seen it all,
Rain had come, wind had blown but this fire remained unquenched.
It had sworn, come rain come high water I will not stop burning,
I choose to be hot.
But who knew
after putting on such a show and shouting a No
the fire would go to a solitary place and cry.
Yes cry!
It would sit down allow the tears to almost quench it and
before it would be turned into ashes
it would quickly use that wind meant to destroy it to fan its coal and
like always stand up and burn up
Those that saw it envied it
Some aspired to be it
Some longed to walk beside it and get warm
Yet some were threatened by it, they thought it was too hot it should sometimes be cold
But its fire it was never meant to be cold in the first place
No one ever thought there were moments it wanted to stop being fire
There were moments when it sat by the riverside and saw how beautiful and peaceful the waterfall was and thought to itself
‘People like you more than they like me you are calm they are afraid of me.’
There were moments where the hotness even consumed her too
It hurt her too
But nonetheless, the fire would remember how special it was
It remembered all the people it had kept warm
It remembered all the meals she had helped prepare
It remembered all the cold hearts she had brought back to life
Yet she also remembered all those she burned
All those that had scars because of her
All those that had lost their lives because of her
But then she recalled again
What is done is done
There is no use for me looking back and allowing past memories to quench me
I am the fire I AM FIERCE I AM HOT I GOT FLAMES
I have both smiles and tears to show for it
I will not stop burning no matter what
- Unquenched - August 10, 2022
