Burning Leaves

I bought matches from a cigarette shop

Wooden with a sulphur tip

I took dry autumn leaves from a dark park

Gathered them together in a circle 

I lit them like dried tobacco, and danced

The flames warmed my cold skin

The smoke filled my eyes 

The smoke settled deeply in my soul

I danced till the flames fell to embers

Till the last of the smoke drifted into the night

I said a breathless good-bye, and left the matches behind

The midnight bus would come soon, take me cross-city to my home

An old radiator kept me warm,

I fell asleep in a feathered bed and dreamed of burning leaves inside my soul