You Might Have Saved a Life
by Claudine Nash
You might have saved a life tonight.
On impulse,
you might have looked
a faintly-known stranger
straight in the eyes
and caught sight of a life
waiting to ignite.
You might have reached in
and kindled it,
breathed wind
into this heat that burns
without flame,
flicked a spark
into a field of dry grass
and yelled “Live!”
or “Fire!” or “There is a gift
in these ashes that needs
to be scattered.”
Tomorrow your stranger might
awaken alert and recalled,
they might set their Wild
Fire free and watch it spread
from sleeper to sleeper
until the world
shakes itself alive
and the murky sky starts
glowing.
You might have saved a life tonight.
You might have saved us all.
Claudine Nash is a psychologist and an award-winning poet whose collections include The Wild Essential (Kelsay Books, 2017) and Parts per Trillion (Aldrich Press, 2016) as well as the chapbook The Problem with Loving Ghosts (Finishing Line Press, 2014). Claudine’s work has received Pushcart Prize nominations and has appeared in a wide range of publications. “You Might Have Saved a Life” was previously published in Sick Lit Magazine and The Wild Essential by Kelsay Books. Her website is: www.claudinenashpoetry.com.
by Claudine Nash
You might have saved a life tonight.
On impulse,
you might have looked
a faintly-known stranger
straight in the eyes
and caught sight of a life
waiting to ignite.
You might have reached in
and kindled it,
breathed wind
into this heat that burns
without flame,
flicked a spark
into a field of dry grass
and yelled “Live!”
or “Fire!” or “There is a gift
in these ashes that needs
to be scattered.”
Tomorrow your stranger might
awaken alert and recalled,
they might set their Wild
Fire free and watch it spread
from sleeper to sleeper
until the world
shakes itself alive
and the murky sky starts
glowing.
You might have saved a life tonight.
You might have saved us all.
Claudine Nash is a psychologist and an award-winning poet whose collections include The Wild Essential (Kelsay Books, 2017) and Parts per Trillion (Aldrich Press, 2016) as well as the chapbook The Problem with Loving Ghosts (Finishing Line Press, 2014). Claudine’s work has received Pushcart Prize nominations and has appeared in a wide range of publications. “You Might Have Saved a Life” was previously published in Sick Lit Magazine and The Wild Essential by Kelsay Books. Her website is: www.claudinenashpoetry.com.