The Fire

The Fire Past life disappeared in an instant, Tangible memories erased and gone. No warning of what was to happen, An accident, something went wrong. Tried in vain to salvage possessions, At risk of inhaling my last breath. Impossible, fumbling in blackness, Options, flee and live or stay and death. The fire started in the basement, Rapidly spreading to all floors. Thick, acrid poisoning black smoke, Choking me, felt my way on all fours. An apartment in a converted old mill, We’d only been there for two years. All that’s left is a charcoal shell, Leaving nothing but the grief of tears. Thankfully no one was injured, No fatalities, just a few minor burns. One faulty wire that’s all it was, A twist of fate and lives upturned. Forty odd years of photographs, From the day all the babies were born. Holidays, starting school, old treasures, Images of our lives now torn. Laptop computer, back-ups destroyed, Hours of work, I can never retrieve. Records, videos, everything we owned, Lost, head in hands, unable to believe. Yes, we had all the proper insurance, But money cannot replace priceless. Almost Seventy and starting over, What a catastrophe, what a mess. Thankfully we still have each other, And what remains of memories in our head. We survived a life altering event, Let’s be grateful we’re alive and not dead.