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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THIRD BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 20 by THOMAS CAMPION

Poet Analysis

First Line: FIRE, FIRE, FIRE, FIRE!
Last Line: THAT ELSE MUST BURN, AND WITH ME FALL.
Subject(s): DESIRE; FIRE; PAIN; RIVERS; SUFFERING; MISERY;

Fire, fire, fire, fire!
Lo here I burn in such desire
That all the tears that I can strain
Out of mine idly empty brain
Cannot allay my scorching pain.

Come Trent, and Humber, and fair Thames,
Drear Ocean, haste with all thy streams;
And, if you cannot quench my fire,
O drown both me and my desire.

Fire, fire, fire, fire!
There is no hell to my desire:
See, all the Rivers backward fly,
And the Ocean doth his waves deny,
For fear my heat should drink them dry.

Come, heavenly showers, then, pouring down;
Came, you that once the world did drown:
Some then you spared, but now save all,
That else must burn, and with me fall.



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