The French call the hearth the âtre.
Many fireplaces, the âtres are closed up, or no longer used.
The âtre has been taken over by television, the computer
I come to the fireplace to express this agony of dialogs
The fire that brought us out of caves
©Giles Denmark Dec 1996 France
The fireplace is the center of the home.
The place where all the concentration of energy is put.
The heat in them has become dead, black.
Now they are home of the anguish of what is lost
Everything that was said but cannot be
Around which meals are set, conversations spoken to under breath
There are no placing of coals or firewood
Watching the embers climb and with it wishes
Unspoken, passion expunged,
Expressing the violence the pain the humanity
That now lies hidden.
That gave us life through winter
That brought bread to our table
That became the altar of our hopes and prayers