A Cool Old Flame Poem by Saroj Padhi

Splay of an old flame like a crimson sunset
on an afternoon sky's soft, shrinking chest,
in all seasons on this heart is eternally cast
in glow not diminishing, as if time to outlast,
whose smokes have turned into dark clouds
in search of a long lost home in distant past
where on mud walls of memory, charcoal wrote
tales of burn, by layer of lime now overcast;
as with each day's burn it singes a vital part
with promise of pure ashes till finish from start,
bound like rose to fire, under its spell I dwell
with moments of ecstasy and agony that swell,
with each wind from trysts on shores and rivers
woods and dales that sprinkles love's sweet smell
drop from showers that the flame tries to quell;
now I live as cool smoke at center of this flame
witched by aroma and art of burning in its frame.