The Fire of Love Still Burns

by Roadrunner Cookson
(Cochrane, Ont. Canada)

The fire was a fierce
and fearful sight to many.
That is how I feel about
my love for my loved ones.
People are everywhere in a panic.
No one took notice of me when I came into view.
My eyes reflected the fire
as I went into it so.
People were crying out the orders
and in pain.
The fearful and fierce fire blazed around me so.
I did not know why I was doing this for them so.
With flashing eyes
I looked for survivors then.
I stayed at my post
as the fire made it hard.
Between the cries and the roar of the flames
I try to listen for something through it all.
The cries and the roar of fire
had deafened me so.
The noise grew less and less
with every step I took.
Suddenly there was stillness around me.
No fire around me
and no cry at all.
Where was I now?
and what had happened so then?
I see the walls of a room
I do not remember.
People were much calmer now
than before at the fire.
I had asked what had happened
and who was still alive.
So I got the answer for my questions
then and there.
They told me I almost died
in the fierce fearful fire.
I said I am not scared of death
or anything before me.
They laughed at this when I had said it
for the fact is it is true.
The fierce fearful fire still was in my eyes.
People say they see the fierce fearful fire
in my eyes.
I was not scared then
I held my ground and my post
at any given time till the end.
Even then I was always on guard
for danger of any kind.
I was ready to face the fear in its face
and laugh at it then.
To this day I still hear the cries
and the roar of the fire about me.
I did not live in fear
as some thought I would from the fire.
I lived in joy and honour
as I did before the fire so long ago.
If I die now I die in honour,
joy and bravely
so many days since the fire.
There will be times when I think I had fear
but I didn’t.