Dying Flame

By Sumedha Gupta

Oh, my heart!

I love you with all that I am.

The sorrows you carry,

the horrific truths you bury–

lay within your depths,

struggling to rise,

yet somehow, you strangle them

and wish for them to sink again.

But instead they surface.

Whenever they please,

whenever you want them least,

defeating you, over and over.

Each day, hope dies a little more.

Are you their killer,

or are they yours?

Who'd win this war?

Will you overcome them,

before they overcome you?

Can you even do it?

Do you even want to?

It's easy to succumb,

I'll give you that.

It's so easy to lose!

But can I allow myself to?

The flame inside my heart–

that tells me to push forward,

still flickers with hope.

Meek.

Growing weaker by the day.

What happens the day 

it fades out?

Oh, my heart!

The sorrows you carry,

only you truly know.

I know you want to be free of these chains–

whether by breaking them,

or being broken by them.

You want a release,

and I'll give you one.

That flame still has some hope left,

I'll try to enlighten the path ahead.

Before the oil dries away,

before the flame dies out.

And when it does–

if it does–

there will be darkness,

there will be relief,

forever.

Chatgpt

The flame falters, but in its dying embers,

I see a spark that remembers—

A time I laughed, a time I soared,

A time I thought this life was more.”

By Sumedha Gupta