She came to me with pride
and with her sealed conditions
said she wanted someone she could trust
with a preposition 
to ease her cobwebbed lust

It was cold out there on the avenue
I'd been walking lonely for some way
it was the idleness of her greeting
it was the warmth of the fire within

There was little choice to make
and nothing new to say
just come inside, keep it between
the universes of you and I

It was an idle flame that we both tended
its very dimness was the whole idea
but standing up to leave one day
I must have knocked 
a pillow into the flame...

(Jan 2019)