renewal

Written by leila smith on August 28, 2021. Posted in Home, Journal

the quiet assurance of revival offered by this poem, feels welcome at the moment

Fire-Flowers

And only where the forest fires have sped,
Scorching relentlessly the cool north lands,
A sweet wild flower lifts its purple head,
And, like some gentle spirit sorrow-fed,
It hides the scars with almost human hands.

And only to the heart that knows of grief,
Of desolating fire, of human pain,
There comes some purifying sweet belief,
Some fellow-feeling beautiful, if brief.
And life revives, and blossoms once again.

Emily Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake) 1861-1913