Fires of the Heart - By: Valérien Taylor

Sunshine on the face,

wind rustling my hair and

gentle laughter shared.

Nectar poured to my lips

Promises we kept

watch them break

I said:

- be safe!

You ran away

Left me here

(loved me here)

and ran to save

Old Mother

So now I weep,

from my umbrous

Throne;

holding you to the sky.

Draped in gold,

then stained in crimson.

I usher you back home.

Then on frosty cliffs,

my beloved skips

We laugh in

silence again.

Did it make you

happy? Oh dear,

Betsy... to help those

I'd scorned.

On pale skin and

rosier cheeks, I graze

your falling river.

My dearest

shadow—looking down.

Beside me lays your soul.

I hated all

so when my love

abandoned me in the snow

I did what any boy would do

yearning for your warmth

I climbed the tallest

mount there was,

with a clear view

down below. Then I wished

goodnight, so well!

And watched passive as it burned.

Please give a detailed explanation about the meaning and main idea of this poem.

The beautiful thing about art is that it is surrendered to the audience to infer their own meanings. That said, the poem was written about how young love invokes bad decisions and how "love" can be possessive. The poem follows the speaker, a bad person, who had fallen in love with a cheerful selfless girl named Betsy, they loved mutually for a bit before Betsy ran away in fear of the speaker's evil nature. Betsy became a hero saving people fairytale style. this aggravated the speaker who incapacitated Betsy to bring her to a cliff(home) where she jumped off(my beloved skips). The speaker then hallucinates Betsy still there, speaking now of her ghost. Now filled with grief the speaker sets the world on fire and watches from the tallest mountain. Yet he fills indifference as it did not fill the void left in his heart by his obsessions passing.

Please explain your writing and thought process regarding this poem.

The poem was what would drive a person to burn the world. I had first started with domestic earnest love then built up obsession.

I changed man to boy, signalling that the speaker is younger(I did what any boy would do).

Nectar poured to my lips is comparing love to nectar because they are both sweet :)

Why did you choose to write this poem?

I had been inspired by the toxic and obsessive "i would burn the world if you asked" and romeo and julliet.