Walking through fire
Painful and blinding
Tongues of flame lick
The very corners of my soul
Forgotten wounds are drawn forth
Dark secrets long hidden
Are discovered by the firelight
It is life and death simultaneously
I cry as things I once bound
To my mind and soul
And claimed as my identity
Are reduced to rubble and ash
Pure ribbons of fire
Wrap around layers
Of self-hate and insecurity
Of pain and sadness
And reduce them to dust
The heat intensifies as
Everything that I once knew
Turns white and crumbles.

I feel cleansed but raw
As though the skin of my soul
Has been washed in flame
Painful though it is
Somehow I feel stronger and clearer
I begin to feed the flame
Heaping on it all I felt
All I was before that first spark came
I fear that I will be consumed
But at the same time I long for it
Wanting to know if some part of me
Is pure, beautiful and strong enough
To become one with the firestorm
Running rampant inside
Burning brightly for all to see
Or if all that I am really is hollow and weak
And all that will be left of me at the end of this
Will be a fine stream of ash
Blown away in the wind
Unseen, unheard, unnoticed.