The Portraits of Our Humanness

III

oil on canvas, 2016

40" x 40"

(Aspect 2)

(Aspect 3)

(Aspect 4)

" There are those who leave the fire and move toward the deeper reaches of the forest where they believe a source of light to exist which is more intense.  A light that breathes, not at all a fixed symbol, a light that alludes yet beckons - the unity of which lies hidden in the chaos." 

-Paul Jenkins, American Abstract Expressionist 

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Maybe I am afraid to bid it farewell
this flickering fire. 
It warms me one moment, then scorches me in another
as I sit observantly beside this mildly tamed inferno.
Are those lies I catch in between its dancing flames
flames, which rise and fall into a color spell of fiery coppers tinged
with the glow of the harvest moon?
Maybe I am afraid to bid it farewell
this flickering fire
for then I would need to believe a greater one exists
and deeper into the forest I will have to go
a little colder, though perhaps wiser
with the burns from the former still on my skin.