<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">A City’s Death By Fire</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">After that hot gospeller has levelled all but the churched sky,</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">I wrote the tale by tallow of a city's death by fire;</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Under a candle's eye, that smoked in tears, I</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Wanted to tell, in more than wax, of faiths that were snapped like wire.</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">All day I walked abroad among the rubbled tales,</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Shocked at each wall that stood on the street like a liar;</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Loud was the bird-rocked sky, and all the clouds were bales</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Torn open by looting, and white, in spite of the fire.</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">By the smoking sea, where Christ walked, I asked, why</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Should a man wax tears, when his wooden world fails?</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">In town, leaves were paper, but the hills were a flock of faiths;</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">To a boy who walked all day, each leaf was a green breath</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Rebuilding a love I thought was dead as nails,</span><br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Blessing the death and the baptism by fire. </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Derek Walcott</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> (1/23/1930-3/17/2017)</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/books/derek-walcott-dead-nobel-prize-literature.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news" class="">https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/books/derek-walcott-dead-nobel-prize-literature.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news</a></div></body></html>