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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BURNING STRAWPILES, by EVA K. ANGLESBURG First Line: On autumn nights when heaven is hung Last Line: Are roused by strawfires blazing near. Subject(s): Desire; Fire | |||
On Autumn nights when heaven is hung With threatening clouds far strawfires strung Round earth's dark rim seem rubies bright Gemming the velvet edge of night. But presently scores of fires upflare, Some far, some near, till everywhere Within the night-narrowed Circle of our sight Flower vast, frost-fronded flames which light The sky with their ruddy glare. They kindle great witch-fires in the sky That streak the black clouds swirling by With smears of crimson. Tall trees tower Darkly to those weird skies which lower; Great, gaunt cottonwoods, black and high Propping a sagging, blood-red sky. Against the heavens the great flames hurl Giant talons; cruel claws curl Backward, then slash with an upward sweep. They rend and tear. Sharp claws sink deep, The torn clouds fly. But at last the fierce triumphant flames Fray out and die. As the darkness deepens shadow-monsters swarm, That misbegotten brood born of fire and storm. In the awesome stillness they crouch and creep To the edge of the firelight, (Peopling the dark) But the flames uprear with a flash and a leap Rout them and dim to a last red spark. Those Autumn nights besmeared with red, With the menace of storm brooding overhead, Bejeweled with a hundred glittering fires Have barbaric splendor which inspires Curious impulses, strange desires. A savage wakens. Our frail veneer Cracks. In a moment disappear Centuries. The fire-fiends mock and leer As we shudder with sudden, nameless dread In the clutches of dim, inherent fear For primitive instincts, dormant, dead, Are roused by strawfires blazing near. | 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 ALADDIN LAMP by MADELINE DEFREES BROTHER GENE by EVA K. ANGLESBURG |
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