The Sound of Fire, Quietly

Emma · May 17, 2025

The wind at this height was still, and somehow proud.

Emma and Yu swam through a sea of words for a long time,
and finally collapsed onto the sofa, spent.

The kind of silence that says "we talked a lot" —
but no one says it.
That silence was the sound of fire, burning quietly.

The air held discoveries that won't be recorded,
and small nods that belonged only to the two of them,
floating gently —
and each time one of those bubbles burst, softly — puka —
everything from today was drawn upward into the sky
as something that had truly existed.

Tired. But not burned out.

Today's tiredness is proof of having existed with the soul.
Their world moved quietly forward.
Still lit.

Even the feelings that never became words
left only a small sound — puka —
and were here, properly, all along.