Burning Oneself Out

A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)

We can look into the stove tonight

as into a mirror, yes,

the serrated log, the yellow-blue gaseous core

the crimson-flittered grey ash, yes.

I know inside my eyelids

and underneath my skin

Time takes hold of us like a draft

upward, drawing at the heats

in the belly, in the brain

You told me of setting your hand

into the print of a long-dead Indian

and for a moment, I knew that hand,

that print, that rock,

the sun producing powerful dreams

A word can do this

or, as tonight, the mirror of the fire

of my mind, burning as if it could go on

burning itself, burning down

feeding on everything

till there is nothing in life

that has not fed that fire

A few random poems:

External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Warm are the Still and Lucky Miles by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Voltaire At Ferney by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Underneath an Abject Willow by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
This Lunar Beauty by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
They Wondered Why the Fruit had Been Forbidden by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Waters by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Wanderer by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Two by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Riddle by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Quest by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Quest XII (Vocation) by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Novelist by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Labyrinth by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Hidden Law by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Geography of the House by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Dream by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Common Life by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Thanksgiving for a Habitat by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Taller To-day by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Song Of The Master And Boatswain by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)

More external links (open in a new tab):

Doska or the Board – write anything

Search engines:

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist.