Jess

She is a live coal.
Dark and fiery, almost too hot to touch.
Blunt, yet sharp enough to cut away the fluff.
Unrelenting and unbending; too hard, too much.
Stable, solid, yet somehow wild; very kind, but tough.
Maybe she's afraid, but never a coward.
A heart of love and fire in a cold and cruel world.  
She is a fire in a hearth, burning like a beacon in a cabin not meant for me.
I trudge through drifts of snow, past the glowing windows, stop and give a rueful look.  
Feel a resonating warmth inside my chest, feel a smile spreading.
Then I shrug in chagrin, and trudge away, though not unwarmed.
She has not invited me inside, and I do not go where I am not welcome.
Yet her spirit still inspires me, till another cabin I can find.