Earth and Fire

Feet anchored, rooted,
my toes squeeze loam, drink-in, blister,
burst and seep, biodegradable man
sole-worn, warm, ivy growth
clambering ankles, grass about the calves
rising still.

Deep in: the stoking: 
coal the boiler wants fed
in endless shovelling - red hunger mouth
of need, muscle, movement -
the sweat, the push, the dig, the throw, the greed.

And the fire never out,
never low, never dies,
far up in the light, the green crown swaying,
higher still the sun is coursing,
blood all boil, all burn and seething flare.

Again, far down, below, under and within,
the feet go deeper still,
rooting down and down to 
where white flowers begin,
where tiny, unknown tongues
sip at fire.

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