Staying warm in Pottageville...

Photo by Barry Wallace

The Firewood Poem

by Lady Celia Congreve, 1930

Beech-wood fires burn bright and clear

If the logs are kept a year;
Store your beech for Christmastide
With new-cut holly laid beside;

Chestnut's only good, they say,

If for years 'tis stored away;
Birch and fir-wood burn to fast
Blaze too bright and do not last;
Flames from larch will shoot up high,
Dangerously the sparks will fly;
But ash-wood green and ash-wood brown

Are fit for a queen with a golden crown.

Oaken logs, if dry and old,
Keep away the winter's cold;
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke;
Elm-wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold;

It is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread

Apple-wood will scent the room,
Pear-wood smells like flowers in bloom;

But ash-wood wet and ash-wood dry

A king shall warm his slippers by.

But what of maple, Lady Congreve?

Please comment if you wish.

Barry Wallace