She used to pull the hair out of the brush
and leave it in the ashtray
and he, when no one was looking,
would pull out a match
and light a match and set it off,
watching the follicles go up,
each independently,
until the full blaze caught
flaring and blowing in one final blowout.

He stopped doing it when she stopped smoking
and the ashtrays disappeared from the house.

Though he still loved the fire
he didn’t have the opportunity
to get it going anymore.

There may be a lesson here
for any who care

to learn it.