{"id":17117,"date":"2026-04-07T23:21:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/substack-post\/the-coals-aint-cold\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T00:35:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T00:35:47","slug":"the-coals-aint-cold","status":"publish","type":"sstack-posts","link":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/substack-post\/the-coals-aint-cold\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coals Ain&#8217;t Cold"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure><a class=\"image-link image2 is-viewable-img\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/%24s_!jKsh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F016a62a4-b37d-49a9-82ea-f9e6774b50e2_800x450.heic\" data-component-name=\"Image2ToDOM\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\">\n<div class=\"image-link-expand\">\n<div class=\"pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image\"><\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image\"><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>S<\/strong>ing the song, they say.<br \/>No one can sing it<br \/>just the way you do.<\/p>\n<p>And I did.<br \/>God, I did.<\/p>\n<p>I used to think<br \/>the worst thing that could happen<br \/>was the clean, sharp wound<br \/>of nasty, cruel rejection.<br \/>A slammed door.<br \/>A sneer.<br \/>Heretic.<\/p>\n<p>Then there were seasons<br \/>I thought the real danger<br \/>was wild popularity&mdash;<br \/>the strange fever of being seen,<br \/>faces turned toward you,<br \/>lights and cameras,<br \/>media buzz,<br \/>the quiet seduction<br \/>of being needed<br \/>for something you don&rsquo;t have to give.<\/p>\n<p>But now I wonder<br \/>if the worst thing<br \/>is not hatred<br \/>and not hype,<\/p>\n<p>but singing your heart out,<br \/>offering your most beautiful song,<br \/>and hearing nothing&mdash;<br \/>not even snark,<br \/>just ambivalence.<\/p>\n<p>To be lost<br \/>in a sea of frenetic noise,<br \/>in the churn of hype,<br \/>the long shadow of the hip and the loud,<br \/>the hot take,<br \/>the polished brand,<br \/>the curated rage.<\/p>\n<p>What if the song is true<br \/>and still<br \/>no one leans in?<\/p>\n<p>What if love is not in fashion?<br \/>What if gentleness has missed its moment?<\/p>\n<p>What if I am singing now<br \/>in the register of irrelevance,<br \/>while revenge and division<br \/>have become the cultural key?<\/p>\n<p>What if the world prefers<br \/>its prophets market-tested,<br \/>its wonder sanitized, sterilized,<br \/>its mystery sorted and shelved?<\/p>\n<p>Here, in this billabong<br \/>of calcified ideas,<br \/>this intellectual greenhouse<br \/>of managed thought,<br \/>these tidy subdivisions of pseudo-inclusivity,<br \/>where the streets are named<br \/>Conformity, Certainty, Control.<\/p>\n<p>What&rsquo;s the use?<\/p>\n<p>Why not move on<br \/>with a smile and a nod<br \/>to the good old days?<br \/>No shame.<br \/>We had a good run&hellip; didn&rsquo;t we?<\/p>\n<p>Not battered,<br \/>not worn thin,<br \/>not ruined.<\/p>\n<p>Just tired.<br \/>Just friggin tired.<\/p>\n<p>And yet&mdash;<\/p>\n<p class=\"button-wrapper\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/mrose.substack.com\/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}\" data-component-name=\"ButtonCreateButton\"><a class=\"button primary\" href=\"https:\/\/mrose.substack.com\/subscribe?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>Subscribe now<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>I remember the kiss<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The kiss<br \/>that turned my life right side up.<br \/>The kiss that did not flatter me<br \/>but found me.<br \/>The kiss that undid<br \/>my not-so-small arrangements with despair.<\/p>\n<p>The kiss that showed me<br \/>love was not a theory,<br \/>not a slogan,<br \/>not a performance&mdash;<br \/>but fire in the belly,<br \/>bread for the road,<br \/>a hand at the back<br \/>when the night was long<br \/>and the wind just wouldn&rsquo;t quit.<\/p>\n<p>I remember<br \/>the ridiculous, radiant promises<br \/>I made to you then.<br \/>The love-sick vows.<br \/>The wild sincerity of them.<\/p>\n<p>How I said <strong>yes<\/strong><br \/>with my whole unguarded heart.<br \/>How I meant it.<\/p>\n<p>How, in some buried way,<br \/>I still mean it.<\/p>\n<p>So here I am.<\/p>\n<p>Not trendy.<br \/>Not sleek.<br \/>Not sexy enough for the algorithm.<br \/>Not mean enough for the moment.<br \/>Not polished enough<br \/>for the keepers of cool.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, tired<br \/>and a little weathered.<\/p>\n<p>But that kiss.<\/p>\n<p>That kiss still burns<br \/>under the ash of my exhaustion.<\/p>\n<p>But that kiss&mdash;<br \/>still there,<br \/>under it all.<\/p>\n<p>The coals ain&rsquo;t cold.<br \/>Love&rsquo;s long fire<br \/>refuses to go out.<\/p>\n<p>So I will sing.<br \/>I will keep singing.<\/p>\n<p>Crazy, creative love.<br \/>Relentless love.<\/p>\n<p>The kind that does not dominate<br \/>but does not disappear.<br \/>The kind that does not coerce<br \/>but does not quit.<br \/>The kind that keeps showing up<br \/>with dirt on its boots<br \/>and mercy on its lips.<\/p>\n<p>I will sing<br \/>even if my voice shakes<br \/>(and it does).<\/p>\n<p>Even if the room thins out.<br \/>Even if the clever ones smirk.<br \/>Even if the age has no ear for it.<\/p>\n<p>Even if all I have left<br \/>is one cracked note<br \/>of hallelujah.<\/p>\n<p>I will sing<br \/>if only for an audience of one.<\/p>\n<p>And maybe that has always<br \/>been the truest place<br \/>to sing from anyway.<\/p>\n<p>So&mdash;<\/p>\n<p>is there anybody out there?<br \/>Is there anybody in there?<\/p>\n<p>Maybe.<br \/>Maybe not.<\/p>\n<p>Still, I will sing.<\/p>\n<p>Because I have been kissed by love<br \/>too deep to deny,<br \/>too stubborn to silence,<br \/>too relentless<br \/>to let me go.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Where, beneath the ash of your own life, might the coals still be warm?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sola Caritas,<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#120707;Michael<\/p>\n<p><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"subscription-widget-wrap-editor\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/mrose.substack.com\/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}\" data-component-name=\"SubscribeWidgetToDOM\">\n<div class=\"subscription-widget show-subscribe\">\n<div class=\"preamble\">\n<p class=\"cta-caption\">Michael M. Rose is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fake-input-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"fake-input\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"fake-button\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2><strong>On Sale Now:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Available in paperback and for Kindle and Kobo<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure><a class=\"image-link image2 is-viewable-img\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/a.co\/d\/06N4uHly\" data-component-name=\"Image2ToDOM\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/%24s_!T_gh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff53a1a09-1f33-4b95-ac51-809fa62df7de_2160x2160.heic\" width=\"1456\" height=\"1456\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/f53a1a09-1f33-4b95-ac51-809fa62df7de_2160x2160.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:500848,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/a.co\/d\/06N4uHly&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/mrose.substack.com\/i\/193518779?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff53a1a09-1f33-4b95-ac51-809fa62df7de_2160x2160.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}\" class=\"sizing-normal\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image-link-expand\">\n<div class=\"pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image\"><\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image\"><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<hr>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lament in the key of love&#8212;from the long road of learning to love, and the obstinate refusal to stop singing while love still burns beneath the ash of a life becoming.","protected":false},"featured_media":17134,"template":"","meta":[],"class_list":["post-17117","sstack-posts","type-sstack-posts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sstack-posts\/17117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sstack-posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sstack-posts"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sstack-posts\/17117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17290,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sstack-posts\/17117\/revisions\/17290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}