(A re-post from 2011.  But class is timeless)

As quiet closes end of day

When evening’s calm has gripped us

I set a fire and in it lay

Dried logs of eucalyptus.

A billowing blue smokiness

And flames begin to dance;

The leaves and trees stand motionless,

No breeze to break their trance.

The silence of the setting scene

Occasionally lifts

From traffic on the A19

And screeching of the swifts.

Of all the ways I might desire

To welcome dusk’s descending

I’d choose this garden and this fire;

There is no better ending.