FIRE

In each black tile a mimic fire's aglow,

And in the hearthlight old mahogany,

Ripe with stored sunshine that in Mexico

Poured like gold wine into the living tree

Summer on summer through a century,

Burns like a crater in the heart of night:

And all familiar things in the ingle-light

Glow with a secret strange intensity.

And I remember hidden fires that burst

Suddenly from the midnight while men slept,

Long-smouldering rages in the darkness nursed

That to an instant ravening fury leapt,

And the old terror menacing evermore

A crumbling world with fiery molten core.

Georgian poetry, 1920-22 · 第 84 / 188 题