Fire's Embrace, Ice's Kiss Poem by Bernard F. Asuncion

A shimmer rises, unseen, from asphalt's black skin,
a phantom limb of summer, reaching.
It warps the world, a funhouse mirror,
where distant cars waver, mirages in the making.

Heat, a heavy blanket, smothering breath,
a slow, relentless burn that leaches energy,
leaving only a thin, salty film and the echo of a gasp.
Sweat, a desperate offering to the sun king,
a futile attempt to appease the fiery reign.

Then, the sharp, sudden bite of winter,
a crystalline fracture in the air.
Frost flowers bloom on windowpanes, ephemeral art,
and breath plumes, ghostly, in the biting wind.
The world contracts, shrinks inward, seeking warmth.

Cold, a silent sculptor, chiseling landscapes of ice,
a stark, unforgiving beauty that numbs the senses.
It's the quiet hush of a snow-laden forest,
the brittle snap of frozen branches,
the deep, aching chill that settles in the bones.

Heat and cold, opposing forces,
a constant push and pull, a cosmic dance.
One, a fiery embrace that consumes,
the other, a frigid kiss that preserves.

We exist, suspended between these extremes,
seeking equilibrium, a fragile balance,
a fleeting moment of comfort in the vast, indifferent expanse.
Are we drawn to the fire, or the ice?
Or simply searching for the place where neither truly holds sway?