Furnace

Acetone breath

Taut with the tiny fires

Of adipose cells aflame

All the saffron self deception

Running away like tallow

Days without sugar

But ever awash with

Sweetness

These intermittent

Diets of ashes and draughts

Have stripped off

The sagging skin

Like Phoenix down

Each breath

A road

A promise

I have endured

And still

Still

With each breath

Fuelling my actions

Faster than words

A gentle man, not

Always but always

A gentle man

Burning with reinvention

Purpose hot enough

To burn away the dark

Alchemical

Yet this beast has soft brown eyes

Which glow with such focus

Lit from within as I look upon you

with such wonder

Wonder

Wonder