Erica Jong

We Learned

The decorum of fire...
-- Pablo Neruda

We learned the decorum of fire,
the flame's curious symmetry,
the blue heat at the center of the thighs,
the flickering red of the hips,
& the tallow gold of the breasts
lit from within
by the lantern in the ribs.

You tear yourself out of me
like a branch that longs to be grafted
onto a fruit tree,
peach & pear
crossed with each other,
fig & banana served on one plate,
the leaf & the luminous snail
that clings to it.

We learned that the tearing
could be a joining,
that the fire's flickering
could be a kindling,
that the old decorum of love--
to die into the poem,
leaving the lover lonely with her pen--
was all an ancient lie.

So we banished the evil eye:
you have to be unhappy to create;
you have to let love die before it writes;
you have to lose the joy to have the poem--
& we re-wrote our lives with fire.

See this manuscript covered
with flesh-colored words?
It was written in invisible ink
& held up to our flame.

The words darkened on the page
as we sank into each other.

We are ink & blood
& all things that make stains.
We turn each other golden as we turn,
browning each other's skins like suns.

Hold me up to the light;
you will see poems.

Hold me in the dark;
you will see light.

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Fan The Fire

Maurice white, donald whitehead & wade flemons
**ohh its a shame
Its a shame its a shame
The flame of love is about to die
Somebody fan the fire
The flame of love is about to die
Somebody fan the fire
Love is dyin today
Somebody fan the fire
The flame of love is dyin I say
We gonna fan the fire, come on along
Little children starving in a foreign land,
Talk about it brother
Man afraid to shake his brothers hand
(fan the fire, fan the fire)
Woman in trouble callin but nobody cares
(fan the fire, fan the fire)
People denied the rights that are truly
Theirs
(its a shame)
*i believe I believe
(I believe I believe)
I believe I believe
(I believe I believe)
I believe the flame of love is about to die
(fan the fire, fan the fire)
I believe the flame of love is about to die
The flame of love is about to die
Somebody fan the fire
Flame of love is about to die
Were gonna fan the fire, come on along.
Violence striking down great men of peace
Poverty in the homes and crime in the streets
(fan the fire, fan the fire)
Kind-hearted people turnin to hate
(fan the fire, fan the fire)
Mans about to destroy the human race
(its a shame)
(*repeat)
(its a shame)
(* * repeat)
I believe the flame of love is about to die
(repeat)

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Fire Burns! Fire Burns!

If you like you can enquire
There are rings of fire
There are hearts on fire
There are desert, grass and bush fires
Burning with a red hot rage on a different stage
They burn and mature that one can only admire

O! Fire O! Fire
My heart is on fire
Inside my soul a little flame has transpired
Have my words mis-fired while I speak of fire?
Fire burns like a scorching red-hot sun
And when fire burns its impact is sometimes no fun

Fire burns! Fire burns!
People die, people cry, people sigh
Fire run, run and run
Let's take turns to run before we turn into a bun
When you play with fire your hands will burn
When you lay with fire, heads will surely turn
Fire burns! Fire burns!

A hand pulls a gun and fires
A man goes to work and gets fired
And while I tire, I ask myself am I a liar?
For I speak of the uncontrollable forest fires
That cannot be announced by any town crier
A little spark
A brittle panic attack
A burning flame
A red-hot blaze
In seconds fire can take out an entire space

Fire burns! Fire burns!
And while the fire transpires
I can see the fire in your eyes
A hot passionate desire that flies and flies
And the fire burns and burns
Run, run and run for heads will turn
And the heat will rise like the scorching sun

Fire burns! Fire burns!
I ask silently for a ceasefire
For fire only ignites to inspire more misery
And out of that misery are born some high fliers
Run, run and run for heads will turn
And whatever burns can never be undone

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My Fire

Fire is my life, fire is my hope, fire is my everything.

Confusion, whipping, whirling never ending.
Always colder, always harder, cruel and devastating all in one.

Fire is my life, fire is my hope, fire is my everything.

Light, I need a light to keep at bay the ever darkening hour.
Searching for warmth, searching to hide, searching to survive.

Fire is my life, fire is my hope, fire is my everything.

A leaf, a twig, anything to find a way.
At last a flame, a hope to guide me from my doom.

Fire is my life, fire is my hope, fire is my everything.

The light is hungry devouring all in its path and growing in strength.
Then suddenly, goodbye mydear with a hiss the light and my salvation go out.

Fire was my life, fire was my hope, fire was my everything.

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Fire and Light

Fire and light, fire and light
we were fire and light
before the world began
we shown like stars

now enclosed in flesh
like fireflies in jars
we forget we emit light
and a flame that consumes

Like the earth inside the core
or the lamps inside a room
we are like our Maker
fire and light, fire light,
a love that consumes the cold and night.

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Forever

Slowly fading blue
The eastern hollows catch
The dying sun
Night time follows
Silent and black
Mirror pool mirrors
The lonely place
Where I meet you
See your head
In the fading light
And through the dark
Your eyes shine bright
And burn like fire
Burn like fire in Cairo
Burn like fire
Burn like fire in Cairo
Shifting crimson veil
Silken hips slide
Under my hand
Swollen lips whisper my name
And I yearn
You take me in your arms
And start to burn
F.I.R.E.I.N.C.A.I.R.O
Then the heat disappears
And the mirage
Fades away...
F.I.R.E.I.N.C.A.I.R.O
Burn like a fire in Cairo
Burn like a fire
Blaze like a fire in Cairo
Blaze like a fire
Flare with a wonderful light
Like a fire in Cairo
Burn like fire
Burn like
Fire in Cairo

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Fire Ferocious

Fire! Fire! Ferocious fire!
You restless wall of flame.
Fire! Fire! Roaring higher!
Your fury to never tame.

You show no mercy – no regard:
A writhing army uncontrolled.
At least you don’t discriminate,
Selecting to exterminate:
All dealt with equal pain untold.

Fire! Fire! Ferocious fire!
You restless wall of flame.
Fire! Fire! Roaring higher!
Your fury to never tame.

In time of drought you run amok –
An open chimney of the land.
Prefer to scorch than suffocate:
In blinding zeal, incinerate
To blackened vista now unmanned.

Fire! Fire! Ferocious fire!
You restless wall of flame.
Fire! Fire! Roaring higher!
Your fury to never tame.

Destruction be your only goal
For you to vent your jealous wrath
On gentle life with caring soul
And human victims to console:
As you are none, but psychopath.

Fire! Fire! Ferocious fire!
You restless wall of flame.
Fire! Fire! Roaring higher!
Your fury to never tame.

So there it is – you are but flame:
Reacting gases to adorn –
With orange flicks of flailing arms,
You’re flaunting your demonic charms!
Now leave us for bereaved to mourn.

Fire! Fire! Ferocious fire!
You restless wall of flame.
Fire! Fire! Roaring higher!
Your fury to never tame.

So many lives to claim.


Copyright © Mark Raymond Slaughter 2009



Fire fire burning fire fire fire burning fire
Fire fire burning fire fire fire burning fire
Fire fire burning fire fire fire burning fire
Fire fire burning fire fire fire burning fire
Fire fire burning fire fire fire burning fire
Fire fire burning fire fire fire burning fire
Fire fire burning fire fire fire burning fire

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Walk Through Fire

(david baerwald/david ricketts)
Darling dont you ride so fast
Dont you want to try to make this thing last
Tell me how can I prove
Id walk through fire
I know youve had a very hard time
No I dont know the facts but Ive seen it in your eyes
And this much is true
Id walk through fire for you
We both have reason to be afraid
But a choice has been made
No love is written in stone
But Ill walk through fire
Through fire
Oh--Ill walk through fire for you
Through fire
cos I know youd do the same for me
Oh baby lets run away
Lets break up some other day
Write love songs and lullabies
Make love while the skies go by
I want to prove
Ill walk through fire for you
We both have reason to be afraid
But a choice has been made
No love is written in stone
But Ill walk through fire
Through fire
Oh--Ill walk through fire for you
Through fire
cos I know youd do the same for me
Flame destroy a love
Flame make it stronger
Forge a blade of love
And satisfy my hunger
So were afraid of love
I cant hide any longer
Well find the courage as we go
Let the little boys pretend
That theyre some kind of supermen
With tough talk and alibis
And flags to defend
Things too young for us to do
But Ill walk through fire for you
We both have reason to be afraid
But a choice has been made
No love is written in stone
But Ill walk through fire
Through fire
Oh--Ill walk through fire for you
Through fire
Maybe someday well walk through fire
Through fire
Oh--Ill walk through fire for you
Through fire
cos I know youd do the same for me

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Sacrifice

Like animals
Tonight we make it
You give me an inch,
I'm gonna take it
I'll steal your love
Like a thief
To be as one
Is my belief
Don't look back and have no regrets
Like beasts of prey we must feed on it
I'll be your one, your one and only
To feel me burn come close and hold me
Chorus:
Flesh and blood sacrifice
Melts the heart like fire and ice
Flesh and blood like fire to ice
Are you willing to sacrifice
There's no more time,
Don't think about
The flame will die
If you doubt
It's a game of
Love and hate
To lose it all's
A chance we take
Come to me and take my hand
It's in the fire that we must stand
I'll take you down under my gun
Our flesh and blood will be as one
Chorus
Our blood runs deeper than a river
The less you need the more i'm gonna give you
And give you but good
Solo, chorus

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(Flesh & Blood) Sacrifice

Like animals
Tonight we make it
You give me an inch,
I'm gonna take it
I'll steal your love
Like a thief
To be as one
is my belief
Don't look back and have no regrets
Like beasts of prey we must feed on it
I'll be your one, your one and only
To feel me burn come close and hold me
Chorus:
Flesh and Blood sacrifice
Melts the heart like fire and ice
Flesh and blood like fire to ice
Are you willing to sacrifice
There's no more time,
Don't think about
The flame will die
If you doubt
It's a game of
Love and hate
To lose it all's
a chance we take
Come to me and take my hand
It's in the fire that we must stand
I'll take you down under my gun
Our flesh and blood will be as one
Chorus
Our blood runs deeper than a river
The less you need the more I'm gonna give you
And give you but good
Solo, chorus

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Primordial

Love is throwing your heart in the burning fire
and being willing to see it come back a frozen hulk;

and doing it again
time after time.

Love requires that we set fire
to our brain,
and watch it burn
all in Love's Name
and Passion's Call.

Love is heat;
Love is fire
and we
are Mashmellows
of the Flame.

Love is time lost.
Who can remember
how long
the Loving Night?

Love seethes
with searing heat
because once lit
flames surge
and take away
our oxygen;
and we
swoon in the Euphoria.

Love is Yearning's Call
peeking from behind
the Banyon Tree;
Love's sight
peering between
the leafy leaves
fixing on figure and form
and then is lost
in a single lover's returned glance;
then
both fall down
to Soul's Depth;
most times
never to return
from that
Landscape Primordial.
Why?
Simple.
One does not interrogate The Flame
One does not expect explanations of Fire.
One does not await memos from the Heat.

Forces of Nature exist within themselves
and we are the Willing Slaves
which obey and cannot resist.

Extinguish the flame, ban the heat
and we are merely hulks
in the vestibule of existence
feeding but without life,
seeing but without sight
breathing but without heart.
Ahh
Would we have all of this any
other way?
We are always, its seems
in the cold and damp
willing to re-light the fire
feel the heat
even if there is pain.

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Pablo Neruda

The Light Wraps You

The light wraps you in its mortal flame.
Abstracted pale mourner, standing that way
against the old propellers of the twighlight
that revolves around you.

Speechless, my friend,
alone in the loneliness of this hour of the dead
and filled with the lives of fire,
pure heir of the ruined day.

A bough of fruit falls from the sun on your dark garment.
The great roots of night
grow suddenly from your soul,
and the things that hide in you come out again
so that a blue and palled people
your newly born, takes nourishment.

Oh magnificent and fecund and magnetic slave
of the circle that moves in turn through black and gold:
rise, lead and possess a creation
so rich in life that its flowers perish
and it is full of sadness.

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Pablo Neruda

Sonnet XIII:The light that rises from your feet to your hair

The light that rises from your feet to your hair,
the strength enfolding your delicate form,
are not mother of pearl, not chilly silver:
you are made of bread, a bread the fire adores.

The grain grew high in its harvest of you,
in good time the flour swelled;
as the dough rose, doubling your breasts,
my love was the coal waiting ready in the earth.

Oh, bread your forehead, your legs, your mouth,
bread I devour, born with the morning light,
my love, beacon-flag of the bakeries:

fire taugh you a lesson of the blood;
you learned your holiness from flour,
from bread your language and aroma.

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Fire In Cairo

Slowly fading blue
The eastern hollows catch
The dying sun
Night-time follows
Silence and black
Mirror pool mirrors
The lonely place
Where i meet you
See your head
In the fading light
And through the dark
Your eyes shine bright
And burn
Like fire
Burn like fire in cairo
Burn like fire
Burn like fire in cairo
Shifting crimson veil
Silken hips slide
Under my hand
Swollen lips whisper
My name
And i yearn
You take me in your arms
And start to burn
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
Then the heat disappears
And the mirage
Fades away
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
F-i-r-e-i-n-c-a-i-r-o
Burn like a fire in cairo
Burn like a
Fire
Blaze like a fire in cairo
Blaze like a
Fire
Flare
Burn like fire
Burn like
Fire in cairo

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Fire-Time

He walked toward her
a fire-stick in his hand
and spoke softly.
'This is fire
my gift to you.

It is safety from wild animals;
heat for your food;

romance for your life;

Igniter of Passion;
The Secret Furnace
which fuels the Sun;
the Starry Blanket
which covers the night;

the Milky Way which burns
hot-blue.

The Heart's Flame
is Cobalt Fire too.

She touched his fire-stick
and felt the burn.

He grabbed her singed hand
and kissed it

saying:
Fire too
burns
human things;

Passion too
sears souls.

'But how, ' she said,
'shall I know fire which heals
from Stinging Fire which
burns my soul? '

'How can I be sure my fire
is safe fire,

that all my passions
are healing flames
and not destructive ones? '

He, said 'Fire is like touch;
go close enough to feel the warmth
but don't press too much
or the skin recoils.

Fire is like two kissing lips;
go close enough to feel the heat
but pressure too much
you chip the teeth.

Fire is like making love;
it can sweep you away
but be sure Fire's Orbit
brings you back
ensuring sure you don't get too close to the burning Sun.

When young be the bubble-bee sampling nectar,
not the moth obsessed with flames.

Use fires' heat
but regard more its light;

for Fire is both;
heat is good
light is knighted.

Fire correctly lit
is a balm of both
and allows Love and Lovers
to survive.

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Light My Fire

You know that it would be untrue
You know that i would be a liar
If i was to say to you
Girl, we couldn't get much higher
Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire
Time to hesitate is through
No time to wallow in the mire
Try now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral pyre
Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire
Aouh, come on!
Come on, babe!
Yeah! come on!
Come on!
Woaouh! yeah!
It was the greatest night of my life.
Although i still had not found a wife
I had my friends
Right there beside me.
We were close together.
We tripped the wall, we scaled the graveyard
Ancient shapes were all around us.
The wet dew felt fresh beside the fog.
Two made love in an ancient spot
One chased a rabbit into the dark
A girl got drunk and balled the dead
And i gave empty sermons to my head.
Cemetary, cool and quiet
Hate to leave your sacred lay
Dread the milky coming of the day.
Ah, ah, ah, ah!
Ah, ah, ah, ah!
Ah, ah, ah, ah!
Ah, ah, ah, ah!
Ah, ah, ah, ah!
Ah, ah, ah, ah!
Ah, ah, ah, ah!
Aah, aah, aah, aah, aah
Aah, aah, aah, aaah!
Time to hesitate is through
No time to wallow in the mire
Try now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral pyre
Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire
Know that it would be untrue
You know that i would be a liar
If i was to say to you
Girl, we couldn't get much higher
Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire
Try to set the night on fire
Try to set the night on fire
Try to set the night on fire!
All right, all right!
All right!

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Fire Is Many Things

Fire is many things,
Fire is insatiable.
Fire is everlasting,
Fire is uncontainable.

Fire is helpful,
Sometimes constructive.
Fire is harmful,
Often destructive.

Fire is passion,
Keeping hearts aflame.
Fire is romance,
Keeping love untamed.

Fire is the block of life
That tells the unknown.
Fire is forever,
Written in stone

Anger, heat,
Passion, and lust.
Every single day,
Fire is within us.

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Fire on Your Finger

Fire on your finger,
Fire in your eye,
Fire in your spirit,
Fire that won’t die.

Fire in the bare bones of being,
Fire to uphold what’s right,
Fire in the heart of darkness,
Fire to fuel Love’s light.

Fire to burn but not consume,
Fire to learn and not assume,
Fire to live and give living room,
Fire to love and sing her tune.

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Pro Patria Mori

World War 1 Soldier Tailem Bend by Illawarrian

Pro patria mori

Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
For generations
we've sold these goods
to young boys
who burn for glory.

Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
Indeed, how sweet,
Pray tell
Poppy covered warrior.

Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
How sweet was the Somme?
Such little ground
was gained with
half a generation gone.

Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
When weapons
far outpace the men
what an empty word
is glory.

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Not Every Poem Knows Its Own Name

NOT EVERY POEM KNOWS ITS OWN NAME

Not every poem knows its own name
Or can have itself be written easily-
Not every poem lives in the light
There are dark poems also.

We, possessed of poetry
Often do not know where we are.

We would like to believe
That the light of our soul
And the light of our words
Are one-

But we know deep down
There is one poem somewhere
And another poem somewhere else
And whoever we truly are
Cannot be wholly found in either.

No poem is us completely
And we are not complete Poetry either.

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Nothing..

This poem is not about love..
This poem is not about pain..
This poem is not about the things i have learned...

This poem is not for the broken hearted..
This poem is not for the ones seeking help..
This poem is not for the depressed...
This poem is for no one,
Because no one can contain nothing...

This poem is not filled with wisdom..
This poem was not written with love...
This poem was not written for a lover nor a brother...

This poem was nothing special...
Not quite remarkable....
But it is nothing because that what it was...
Nothing and it will never be anything...

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