we are the fire-breathers

hope is an ember in the darkest recesses of our hearts
where neither wind nor water can touch it,
waxing and waning in strength, but never dying.
perpetually it glows in silence and waits,
waits for the day when it may birth a mighty flame
again.

we return to find it, ignored, forgotten,
but ever-present.
it remembers not our disregard, our carelessness,
and as we blow carefully upon it
so as not to extinguish it
and as we feed it
with confidence and faith
as one feeds a fire with wood and oxygen
it grows strong
permeates the now
consumes the past
and is born again.

and so we breath deeply
with our core
full of hope,
full of fire.
we grasp the reins of life
and advance
knowing this is not the end,
we are not the weak.
we live again;
we are the fire-breathers.