The fire licks like a red dog at your boot br And I can only marvel that you tame br A thing so savage and essential at its root br Back down to the primeval of all flame. br Soot pictures on the walls time out of mind br Scratched out by hands as sudden as bird claws br No clock records the moment when unsigned br The sun walked barbarously across those flaws. br I might have been the woman of that cave br From whom you captured day in stick and stones br Blowing your breath on crimson coals to save br The wonder of that last light on her bones. br Then afterwards when darkness filled the room br There would be hieroglyphics on the tomb.