Advancement

Do you remember

the old-fashioned coal scuttle

it's filled heaviness that made it so hard

to shake the right amount of cobs

into the fire grate

( some hissed if damp)

and the long iron pokers that went with it

that had to be retrieved from the eventual flames 

before the handle got too hot

and do you remember the times you screamed OUCH!

when forgetting to wrap a cloth around it first?

 

Now I just turn a wall dial and sit back; not even a single grain of coal dust

floats on the air. No regrets for those.

 

Yet some for the cosiness of the darkened room

whose walls were dance floors for tiger stripes

and their flickering shadow partners.