Fire - David Mallett

It’s the last week in June

Near the first quarter moon

And the summer is coming down warm

And the corn’s in the ground

And the vane’s turnin' round

As it tells of an on-comin' storm

Now there’s four of us home

But we’re not quite alone

There’s a host of ghosts livin' upstairs

For a house doesn’t shelter

And then let ya pass

After standin' for two hundred years

Now the cows in the meadow

A sleepy-eyed mother

Her calf stands at tether inside

The barn swallows carry their

Bricks and their mortar

And the big door is swung open wide

This place is like tinder

The timbers are dry

There’s dust on the rafters and beams

But the buildings’ll stand

They’ve been graced by the hands of

The ones who were building their dreams

Now up from the north there’s

A black cloud a rollin'

And another rolls in from the west

Oh Lord, we need rain or we’ve planted in vain

So just quench us and we’ll do the rest

The weepin' old willow

That stands in the yard

Sways back and forth in the breeze

There’s a rumble of thunder

And the rain falls so hard

Abringin' the drought to its knees

My Grandfather worked here

With his family beside him

And God knows how many before

And how many babies

And how many wives

Their footsteps are worn in the floor

There’s a silence that falls

In the midst of a storm

As the elements wait and decide

To unleash their forces on

Mortals like me

Or to move on and let us survive

Now crash like a sound

Like I never have heard

Like a cannon from Uncle John’s war

My father and brother

They head for the stairway

And I shudder and head for the door

Now off the back door-step

The air has an odor of brimstone

The rain is gone round

And off to my right

I am blind by the sight of the

Arc of the barn burnin' down

And there’s fire, fire

Out in the barn, Father

Fire in the chicken house, too

And the flames run so high

They are scorchin' the sky

And there’s not a damn thing we can do

Now the sparks from the hay-mow

They light on the cedar, dry

Shingles that cover the shed

And nothing is sacred

And nothing is saved

«Cause there’s fire and there’s

Flames to be fed

The clock in the kitchen

Says quarter past three

As the gates are flung open from hell

And time here is frozen

The clock ticks no more

Just the ashes and the cinders and smell

And there’s fire, fire

Out in the barn, Father

Fire in the chicken house, too

And the flames run so high

That they’re scorchin' the sky

And there’s not a damn thing we can do

Just take what you can carry

And leave all the rest

Leave Grandmother’s four-poster bed

‘Cause it’s too big to haul

And the doorway’s too small

And there’s a black cloud of

Smoke overhead

Take some china, some old

Things, that can’t be replaced

Take a chair and the clothes

On our backs

The roof tumbles in

There’s a smudge on your chin

You better stay outside

Don’t go back

And there’s fire, fire

Out in the barn, Father

Fire in the chicken house, too

And the flames run so high

They are scorchin' the sky

And there’s not a damn thing we can do

It’s the last week in June

Near the first quarter moon

And the summer is coming down warm

And the corn’s in the ground

And the vane’s turnin' round

As it tells of an on-comin' storm