Paper River

Hung under the canopy

Like origami stars

Crafted delicately

In goddess hands

Dangling last embers

Bursting like stars

In their own right

Into bright new flames

As slits in the surface

Reveal pockets of air

Come consume

Claim their own stake

And sleep passes

Like an aura beholden

To the waning heat

Burning for silence

A midnight river

Echoed off the trees

That line the night

Standing like sentries

Folded against relief