Relatable

Each year, these fires seem to get more relatable.

—KCAL 9 News Anchor

Like old friends who know all our secrets

but don’t mind, and would never tell,

these fires just keep getting more convivial.

Their bursts and flares are the color 

of warm claret. Their little wind-

whipped tales dazzle good-naturedly.

Next year, they will be even more intimate,

like fiancées whose extended families

we have come to know and cherish.

And the year after that, we will relate

to them as spouses, whose broad smiles

we have learned are fleeting—

when company has gone, they grow ashen;

their smoky eyes dim to a wicked glow.