The darkness had hardly claimed the night

When the firefly’s sparkle dimmed.

Hours and hours were left to go

‘fore sunlight could set in.

A body curled against itself 

prepared with worried eyes

For another night in which she must 

resist Death’s numbing prize.

 

Head bent down, eyes cast away,

Her vision a perfect line

She avoided the scene of darkness

She could not again decline.

Fingernails left their prints upon

Her raw and reddened nape

Which helped her to refuse the hand

Death offered from his cape.

 

Just before Death’s icy grasp

Could break down her resolve,

A warming flame was lit nearby

And Death, he did dissolve.

The girl untangled her rusted joints

And warmed her freezing palms

Against the fire which came over her

In waves of soothing calm.

 

She fed the fire and built it up

And always kept it near

Lest Death should whisper once again

False promises in her ear.

The crackle of the fire

And its warm and bright embrace

From now on would illuminate

An equally bright face.