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What is it about fire that holds our fascination? Last weekend the clocks went back and in the span of one night darkness began to lap at the edges of our late afternoons. The encroachment of night leading the tide of winter into our daytimes can no longer be ignored and it is understandable that at this time of year we are so drawn to the image of an open fire. In this episode, with the help of the poet Robert Service, we explore the ways that fire can touch us so deeply emotionally, reawakening old memories and feelings.

Journal entry:

“5th November, Friday

A chill greyness has seeped into the landscape
 That silvered dawns
 And sunsets of fiery bronze 
 Cannot shift. 

COP26 started this week. 
 Twitter and newsfeeds are not good places to be. 

So I stand by the big oak
 Listening for the raven’s call
 And the windsong of geese.

Above me contrails flower the cobalt sky
 And, at my feet, 
 A clover leaf
 Laced with ice.                  

Episode Information

In this episode I read extracts from a number of poems by Robert W Service (1874-1958). These are:

‘The Ballad of One-Eyed Mike’
‘The Lure of Little Voices’
‘The Logger’
‘The Song of the Campfire’

There are a number of collections of his works. The one I have been using is Dan McGrew, Sam McGee and Other Great Service Poems published by Taylor (1987).
 
 

For more information about Service’s life and work, see: Robert W. Service.

For more information on research relating to the psychological and physiological effects of sitting by an open fire:

C.D. Lynn. (2014) ‘Hearth and Campfire Influences on Arterial Blood Pressure: Defraying the

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