The Last Fire's Philosophy

A Contemplation Upon Flame's Final Hour

When fire forgets its rage and settles low

The coals confess what flame would never know

That all bright violence comes to gentle rest

And every fury finds its death the best

See how the embers do conspire and glow

With secret wisdom only endings show

They hold within their dimming orange heart

The memory of what they were at start

Yet mourn them naught for in their slow decline

They teach the soul what words could ne'er define

That transformation wears a double face

Both losing self and finding greater grace

The ash speaks truth that fire could never tell

How grandly sweet the final cooling spell

How tenderly the heat departs the coal

Returning all its borrowed light to whole

Perhaps we err to fear the fading spark

When darkness proves itself a richer dark

For what was loud must learn at last to cease

And in that ceasing grant the world its peace

So let the hearth grow cold and grey and still

The end performs as ending always will

Reducing glory back to common dust

Reminding ardent flesh of what it must