In My Heart’s Fire

Written by Aaron Soto, 2025 Reading Poetry Prize Winner

My tunnel was dark

As I walked, my tunnel got darker and darker

My hands got colder and cracked

I carried my heart a hole for a little fire to sit

Mine almost extinguished

Wispy, barely there if not for a whisper of smoke

It was too dark

Without darkness though, how can you see the spark?

When I called out for help, someone came

Someone lit my fire for me

Someone joined me with a pat on the back and a tissue for kindling

Three years of gentle fire, nursing the flame until I could warm my hands

Three years as people I once rejected grew closer to me

My fire warmed us all

I wasn’t alone?

I wasn’t alone.

My fire spread through the hearts of those around me

We lit the hearts of those in the tunnel

For the next person

And the next

Then the next

Some live their lives engulfed in warm flames

Some live their whole lives without the flicker of light

The fire in your heart is meant to be shared

To be passed from heart to heart

To warm the cracked fingers of those who’ve gone too long without the smoky kiss of sparks

I am not alone

And neither are you.