I can’t stop the world

There is a fire burning

Burning without control

Its blaze licking and leaping

Seeking new lives to destroy

There is a fire burning

That sears the soul of the possessor

Reducing to nothing any reason

Touching even those not scorched

Relentlessly building

Lashing out in the private darkness

Leaving bruised and battered the victims

This uncontrolled raging within

Fueled by the vessels past

Destroying the fuel it perceives

The weakness within

To purge from others

This far distant cousin to passion

The rage that is never consumed

Demons carrying the fires

Of their own private hell

A light so darkened

It blinds the mind

Denying even the aftermath

Of violence’s eruption

Victims are left with little choice

Become stronger or die weak

Never realizing the fire lives

Hiding deep within

Sometimes never to be uncovered

But always, patiently, awaiting the chance

That one situation

That one circumstance

Leaving bewildered the victim/vessel

Corrupted by the hated flame

The weakness thought purged

I can’t stop the world

That flame

Never materialized outside

Still the fuel inside

Still the weakness

Still the chance

There are days

Control seems only a word

The warmth rises

Reason still prevails

It is not a part of me

This cowardly flame

And still … it tries

I can’t stop the world

I try, a harbor to make

A place where the flame

And the whirlwind

Cannot find a history

I can’t stop the world

No matter my strength

No matter my courage

Still it turns

Still it burns

And yet … still I will try

To stop that world for one

Save one

That saves one

Stop one

That stops one

That flame

Becomes the ember

That ember

Becomes the ash

That ash

Blown away

I can’t stop the world

Perhaps … we can

Ron Simpson

December 18, 2006