I Am the Fire

Hope is dead.
My heart is my own
and its secrets I will keep,
but joy is not mine to have,
it is mine to give;
the burdens of a world
that doesn’t want me
are mine to bear,
to rise and be the champion
for all and none,
to fight the shadows
that haunt the night
and light the way
for others to see.
I am that fire
and the chain is heavy
but I have chosen
its weight for myself.
To hope is not for me,
to love and laugh
in the joy of
its true embrace
a gift I can give
only to others,
by being what they cannot,
what they will not,
what they do not
want to be.
Lonely is my vigil
in the deep watches,
but I am there,
ever there shining,
to remind you that
there is at least one
who will always fight for you.
I am the fire.