Purified

she could peel me bare
and in the same breathe,
turn me into ash
then wince
at her own botch,
but I outlived
the quelling cross
becoming something
from nothing
over and over
right before her shock,
and I’d erect
brilliant every time
a credit she tried
to decline
though my shine
made the embers
glitter before her
sooty lies

– B. Brown

(image courtesy of Pinterest)