Stacked, slanted
to form a tower
that leans
as if built upon a marsh
defying sense

Bark and fibre
call to mind
the characters
of stories and flames
long burned out

Dancing with light
and shimmering in heat
this offering to the present
whose memory
warms long after
all is turned to ash

Grown from dust
and to dust returned
recalling all the those flames
extinguished long since

though truly
their energy
can never
gutter, splutter
or truly die.