Persistence

Paper plates and someone's stereo
Summer ending by the shore
You had two left in the packet
Nobody was keeping score
Then you struck one and you turned round
Wrote my name against the black
And it vanished while you wrote it
Every letter fading back

I could only catch the first part
By the end the start was air
But a camera on the table
Held its shutter open there

Light it
Burn it bright
Light it
Write the night
Arms wide
Watch me write
One sweep
Left to right
There's my name in borrowed light

It's a photo on my fridge now
Blurred your face and sharp my name
Every letter still on fire
Like it never left the flame

Light it
Burn it bright
Light it
Write the night
Arms wide
Watch me write
One sweep
Left to right
There's my name in borrowed light

Can you read it
That's for you

Light it
Burn it bright
Light it
Write the night
Arms wide
Watch me write
One sweep
Left to right
Still my name, still in your light

You were gone before it finished
But the picture kept it all