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Fire-flowers

Emily Pauline Johnson 1861 – 1913

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

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 01, 2023

21 sec read
161

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAAB CXCCX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 429
Words 71
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 5, 5
Full analysis for Fire-flowers »

Emily Pauline Johnson

Emily Pauline Johnson Tekahionwake commonly known as E Pauline Johnson or just Pauline Johnson was a Canadian writer and performer popular in the late 19th century Pauline Johnson was notable for her poems and performances that celebrated her aboriginal heritage One such poem is the frequently anthologized The Song My Paddle Sings Her poetry was published in Canada the United States and Great Britain Johnson was one of a generation of widely read writers who began to define a Canadian national literature more…

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