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FIRE WITH FIRE.
There are creeping flames in the near-by grass; There are leaping flames afar; And the wind’s black breath Is hot with death,— The worst of the deaths that are! And north is fire and south is fire, And east and west the same; The sunlight chokes, The whole earth smokes, The only light is flame! But what do I care for the girdle of death With its wavering wall and spire! I draw the ring Where I am king, And fight the fire with fire! My blaze is not as wide as the world, Nor tall for the world to see; But the flames I make For life’s sweet sake, Are between the fire and me. That fire would burn in wantonness All things that life must use; Some things I lay In the dragon’s way And burn because I choose. The sky is black, the air is red, The earth is a flaming sea; But I’m shielded well In the seething hell, By the fire that comes from me. There is nothing on earth a man need fear, Nothing so dark or dire; Though the world is wide, You have more inside, You can fight the fire with fire!
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