Classic and Contemporary Poetry
OLD FIRES, by JOHN FREEMAN Poet's Biography First Line: The fire burns low Last Line: Dawn's wild fires through the casement glow. Subject(s): Fire | ||||||||
THE fire burns low Where it has burned ages ago, Sinks and sighs As it has done to a hundred eyes Staring, staring At the last cold smokeless glow. Here men sat Lonely and watched the golden grate Turn at length black; Heard the cooling iron crack: Shadows, shadows, Watching the shadows come and go. And still the hiss I hear, the soft fire's sob and kiss, And still it burns And the bright gold to crimson turns, Sinking, sinking, And the fire shadows larger grow. O dark-cheeked fire, Wasting like spent heart's desire, You that were gold, And now crimson will soon be cold Cold, cold, Like moon-shadows on new snow. Shadows all, They that watched your shadows fall. But now they come Rising around me, grave and dumb. ... Shadows, shadows, Come as the fire-shadows go. And stay, stay, Though all the fire sink cold as clay, Whispering still, Ancestral wise Familiarstill, Staring, staring, Dawn's wild fires through the casement glow. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WRITTEN TO A YOUNG LADY by MAURICE BARING OUR DRIFTWOOD FIRE by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE NIGHT FIRE by CLAUDE MCKAY WATER, WINTER, FIRE by MARVIN BELL THE LITTLE FIRE IN THE WOODS by HAYDEN CARRUTH SAMSON PREDICTS FROM GAZA THE PHILADELPHIA FIRE by LUCILLE CLIFTON |
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