nella's journeys

Once again I find myself in this kitchen,

cooking rice for the day's meal.

I don't mind staying here

as yaya (nanny) has provided a table and chair

and has kept the place clean.

Idly, I watched the fire die down.

I know I have to keep it burning as the water has yet to boil

or else the rice will spoil.

I took a paper for burning

and saw it slowly devoured by fire.

Fire has transformed it into its own.

No longer the paper I once held in my hands

But a fire now among fires.

This made me wonder

if there is anything

that is not transformed by fire.

They say it's plastic.

I say, "Maybe."

They say it's bricks, granite, diamond...

Maybe.

But all these have also been transformed by fire.

Are we not also transformed by fire?

Call it deadlines, crisis, rifts...

Those that cause turmoil within us

that make us cringe and struggle

Like the paper that writhed and cringed

as fire consumed it to its core.

The paper nourished the fire

as it helped keep it burning.

It has served another purpose

as it adapted to a new environ.

Like the paper that consumed

the all-consuming element of of its environ,

we, too, consume

the all-consuming elements in our environ

as these strongly influence us:

the philosophies, attitudes, beliefs;

culture and traditions.

We do not totally become

as we adapt what for us is applicable

and set aside what for us is not.

But still we change

only to adapt ourselves to a new environ

and nourish those around us

as we nourish ourselves in turn.

What happens to the paper?

As it turned to ash among embers,

come cleaning time

it's thrown in the garden

and becomes the 'transforming fire'

as it nourishes others

and help them live on.

Like the rest of us,

wherever we are,

we continue to transform

and be transformed

as we are consumed by our fires

and become a fire for others in turn.