Elemental

“Hold still,” you whisper.

I writhe, I squirm,

Your palms burn into me,

Melting away the hardened ridges.

I fear that there will be nothing left,

Flesh and bones wrung into pliable clay.

“No more!” I beseech.

Deceiver. Beguiler.

This time, I might not be able to find myself,

Too distorted to take form again.

“It must be. It will be,” you promise.

Helpless, I bear witness to the cycle,

Repeated, relentless, predestined.

I surrender to the inferno,

Fire breaks me.

Air tempers me.

Water shapes me.

Earth absolves me.

I spring from the fate written in my ashes,

Becoming who I must be.