Fire-Flowers
The city is coming back to life. It calls to mind the poem Fire Flowers, in which wildflowers bloom beautifully in the aftermath of a forest fire. The poet, Emily Pauline Johnson, was half Mohawk and half English, and was born on Six Nations Reserve near Ontario, Canada. She often used the structure and style of English poetry to convey Native American beliefs and legends.
Fire-Flowers
by Emily Pauline Johnson
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.
