In a clearing, surrounded by forest, a fire burns, tall and hot and wild. Tongues of flames dance seductively, moving, swaying, touching the night sky, kissing the air opened mouthed like a lover. Stars overhead burn bright as if light-years were mere inches, as if I could touch them and hold the dreams they carry in my hand. The air is spiced like aged mead with scents and perfumes of late summer freedom.  In the light of day, the September sun burns bright, announcing the colors of oak and birch. They cling to the green season, but a splash of color betrays the defiant summer nature, and shines through with the occasional red and gold flare. By night, though, the earth takes on hues of violet and silver, rich with sleeping desire, and the fire burns hot with passion. Living shadows cast from the flames dance in a circle, a boundary, a line where night meets fire and magic is set free. Here, where the shadows dance, my eyes close and my defenses weaken. Here, there is a natural rhythm, a need to sway to the primal beat of my heart. The winds sing, and the fire dances, and I embrace both, and they embrace me, and here where fire meets night, I soar with the magic that only you can summon.  Kiss me. Take me, for here, in your presence, I am not a warrior. I am not ice. And I am not strong, because here, I fall to my knees for you. Here, you are my warrior and my strength and here you are everything a man should be.  Here, where the moss and the tall grass pillow the earth, I fall to my knees and give thanks to the gods that you were made for me, and I for you. I welcome your touch and your breath, your very life. I need you now, in the way that women have needed men since the dawn of time. I tremble in anticipation, and desire warms me on the inside as much as the fire on my skin, and as I look up at you, I am awestricken, my heart pounds, and my breath catches and my skin aches for your touch. I long to open myself to you, and take you inside of me, so that your soul fills the darkest corners of my own. Fill me with your desire, and remind me that I am a woman.  Here in the late summer of our lives.