Just Like Me

[Inspired by Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451"]

Smoke rising in the eastern sky,
Climbing higher as the day rolls by
Like a ladder to the afterlife
And the promised land

All the chimneys in the neighborhood
Hold the secret, and they hold it good
Are you sending up a piece of wood
Or something you’ll want back?

It burns...just like me

It can warm you on a winter’s night,
It can chase the shadows out of sight,
Or it can take away your heart’s delight
With just a single blaze

Like a lover running hot and cold
All you want to do is hold it close
Why is it all the things that give the most
Can also take the most away?

It can pull you forward, it can push you back
From the darkest age to old Chicago town
Ash to ash, dust to dust, to now

There’s a ball a-burning way up high,
Makes the difference between day and night,
And it’s responsible for all earth’s life,
Or so they say

Someday when its race is run
It’ll finish with an explosion
And, I tell you, when my time is come,
I’m going out that way