Fire Boy

Fire boy 
Boy with the wind pulling waves from your curls

Wild by nature, controversial by choice
Weblike anger ebbs into smarting hurt

But I promise I’ll learn

I don’t think you mean to mock me
I think you mean to teach me about the time that came before

About the patches of history in my grandmother’s catering business
About the Norse and their crowns forged in blood 

Fire boy
Boy safe in the harbor of the girl I loved first 

You’d nitpick my facts if you read this
She’ll remind you to chide me with that childish smile 

But I promise I learned 

Personal history has teeth if you warp it
Impersonal history has teeth born of power

See, a battle of the minds is not a battle of the heart 
And we’ve hung onto friendship for these hang-dog years dear

Fire boy
My shoes are slipping and my feet ache dull 

Let’s not make eggshells 
Of our common ground