To escape the fire

30 poems in 30 days continues. Sunday's poem was number 17, and it looks like this (at the moment):

17 – to escape the fire

Sunday 30th January 2005

take one match, and a small bundle of sticks
place the sticks on dry grass
strike the match and set the grass alight

stand back, and wait
if needed, blow gently to increase the flames

when the flames are gathering height, and spreading
watch calmly as they engulf the plants that surround you

to escape the fire
run like the demons in the night, don’t stop until you reach
the corner of beyond, the first steps of the house outside town

now pause, and think to yourself,
if you had waited, if you had allowed yourself
to be consumed by the flames

the cleansing of the fire, the burning
would have left you clearer, removed from the flaws of today

now think, would you run,
would you stand and feel the burn,
take the process as the cleansing of soul.