The Care and Feeding of Fire

This is the thing –
even the wildest fire
has the elements of death in it,
consuming all you feed it,
hungry, always hungry for more,
generous in heat and light,
but not without a cost,
not without the threat
of destruction,
barely tamed,
always ready, as long as there is a spark,
to dance anew in the night.

Feed it stingily, and it will obey,
barely warming the night of your heart. You
will never quite be cold, never quite warm, or
pile it high, tossing logs, branches, leaves,
every scrap of fuel you have at your command
and watch it
rise high and hot, a beacon
of lust and hope,
a passionate kiss of light
seen from the far away mountains,
spiritual, exotic, and gloriously mad. .

About this poem. 

This poem was inspired by my bible reading this morning, from Leviticus 6:13 – “The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.”  The scripture is talking about the altar fire in the temple, but it could just as easily refer to our own love of God, or each other. A fire must be fed, and how we choose to feed it determines how much light and heat we get in return.

My son James took the picture.

Tom

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