Dorothea Mackellar




Fire

This life that we call our own
Is neither strong nor free;
A flame in the wind of death,
It trembles ceaselessly. 

And this all we can do
To use our little light
Before, in the piercing wind,
It flickers into night: 

To yield the heat of the flame,
To grudge not, but to give
Whatever we have of strength,
That one more flame may live.