God, I love real fires. I think I really do prefer them to TV (OK, in China, that's not hard - the local TV really isn't up to very much). I spent many a happy hour gazing into them as a child, and I still do whenever I get the chance.
My passing reference the other day to watching a fire for entertainment in my electricity-less apartment reminded me of this piece I wrote last summer. It was conceived as one of my 'freaky fables' series; although I suppose it's not a fable as such, really just an observation.
Communion of the Hearth
The Boy stares into the Fire,
Thrilled by the dancing flames
And dreaming stories in its bright embers.
The Fire is no less fascinated by the Boy,
The wild light of imagination in his eyes,
The fierce glow of excitement in his cheeks.
The Fire feeds the Boy’s hungry mind,
As the Boy's unfailing gaze fuels the Fire's pride.
They burn, burn, burn together.
******************************
They share a sadness too:
One knows it must soon be bedtime;
The other knows it must soon die.
5 comments:
A long, long time ago, I read some statistic about children playing with fires and the damage that results...
I was fascinated with matches as a child - but managed enough self-control and common sense to not burn anything down. However, that fascination does mean I can understand why children playing with fire is such a common thing.
Once, probably around age 7, I was in my grandmother's (Nanee's) kitchen in Karachi. Nanee and Mommy had both stepped out, perhaps they were sitting on the "charpoy" in the "verandah" (courtyard) just outside the kitchen door, peeling "thoray" and gossiping. Maybe I was sent into the kitchen to grab something for them. I don't exactly remember.
But I do remember standing in the dark kitchen, the smell of fresh-cooked "chapatis" lingering in the air, making my stomach grumble with renewed hunger. Looking around for whatever object I was meant to fetch, I spotted the box of matches used to light the gas stove.
Matches in Pakistan are waaaay cooler than matches in the USA. In Pakistan, they are used frequently to light stoves, so the sticks are sturdy and the patch on the box where you strike the match is long-lasting. Sometimes, all it takes is the slightest contact between the patch and the match to get a fire going.
Yes, I just "slightly" touched the match to the patch. Yes, I got a fire going. And yes, I stood there in fascination, watching the fire burn the match down to my fingers and singe the tops before I screamed out in sudden pain and let it drop to the floor where it set some old discarded papers on fire.
And, yes, my Nanee's house is still standing. Luckily the newspaper scrap was small and burned out quickly without damaging anything else.
I probably grabbed whatever I was sent to fetch and ran out to the verandah, handed it to my mom, then proceeded with my usual childhood roof-jumping, guava-stealing, mango-tree climbing activities. The itch to light something on fire had passed, at least for that summer.
Michelle Shocked has a great song (I've lost you already, haven't I, Tulsa?) about playing with matches as a kid - V.F.D. (Volunteer Fire Department. I've used it often in English classes, both here and back in England - good for eliciting stories about childhood, about secret shame.
Yes, but I'll exchange Me Lost for You Lost with a reference to something I'm sure you haven't read! Prove me wrong if you can.
When I was a 1L, the witty, satirical editor of my law school's monthly turned me onto A Series of Unfortunate Events... a series of children's books about awful things that happen to 3 siblings whose parent's died (maybe?) in a fire...
It was an excellent literary escape from the thousands of pages of required legal reading. Simple, witty, made for children, amusing enough for adults (or brain-fatigued law students).
The recurring mystery in each book in the series is what does VFD mean? You see, the parents were part of a secret society - VFD - and so the kids are constantly coming across VFD clues.
I think there is a movie now. and many more books were added to the series since I last read one. So maybe the mystery has been solved. I'll have to check in with my niece for an update.
Haven't seen the film version yet. I hear it's good. Jim Carrey?
I think I may even have it... beginning to lose track, amongst all the hundreds of DVDs I now own.
You're right - I've heard of it, but not read it.
Do you know Edward Gorey? See what a Net search throws up.
Now I know Edward Gorey. (Wikipedia). Thanks for tuning me into him.
So are we becoming a world of encyclopedia readers? or do only those who would read the book version of an encyclopedia/almanac/dictionary actually do so online, too?
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