Inside

A person born in a burning house

believes the world is on fire.

I wasn’t born in a burning house, 

but I wasn’t taught to stop drop and roll;

so when the clouds migrated from the sky

to my ceiling,

and and my lungs began to burn 

brighter than I’d ever seen the glow in our fireplace, 

I didn’t know what to do. 

I kept everything in thinking it’d slow time, 

thinking it'd heal itself, 

but I found the more I kept in,

the hotter it burned, 

until I blew. 

And lit the people around me on fire too.