… a poem by Anjum Alam

lady took
      time with the burning
   this slow gentle thing
the flame
      on a sunny night
   of leased light
out of her
      hair a whisp charred
   flared by the ember
self, wait,
      steps in ash
   see her run
lady asks
      floating in the wind
   feel a spark kindle
but they
      rotten with the dead
   written in destiny
deny her.