I

And draw what never can be represented —

Some subjects mock the painter’s, poet’s skill,

Feeble if written — feebler still if painted:

II

Then take thy plastic pencil, or thy quill,

And aid me, man of genius genuine,

And yields at least sufficient work for thine:

III

Serenely sailing through a starry sky,

Of a keen brumal night was drawing nigh —

The air-gauge down at zero, or below,
And the doom’d City was a field of snow;
The citizens on various business bent,
Each on his several purposes intent. (1)

IV

Of ‘Fire!– by various voices breaks upon

The startled ear, at night! — high and more high

That fear-fraught sound is rais’d — men hurrying on

To the devoted spot — th’ alarm-bell tolls

Its summons shrill — the rattling engine rolls —

Firemen, equipp’d, in universal motion,
Each crowded street an animated ocean.

V

Presented to the nightly passenger

Through the ill-fated streets, no longer seen

Save in their smouldering ruins! The brisk stir

I do not say of riot-revelry.

VI

And flame and terror, ‘ye are wondrous strong,–

Emitted from the burning piles among:

The cry of ‘where’s the fire?– — the glaring glow

Points out the way to the remotest ken

Of each alarm’d alarming citizen.

VII

‘And thick’ning crowds, and signals of distress,

And aching hearts ‘which but an hour ago–

Were wrapp’d in what the world calls happiness,

That transient something which mankind enjoy —

That ‘airy nothing,– ne’er without alloy;

That mockery of life, that fragile flow’r

Which buds, blooms, withers, dies, in one short hour.

VIII

Mysteriously in vain! The engine throws

As fruitless is at hand; — hook, bucket, hose

’Twixt fire and water; early in the night

That contest ceased — the mighty mastery

Was gain’d — supported — kept, to victory.

IX

Can frustrate? Thitherward these flames shall run

And there shall finish the dread work begun.

All hope to stay their progress ended here —

When sounds discordant burst upon the ear,

‘Stand clear,– ‘come on,– ‘haste,– ‘stop,– ‘come here,– ‘go there,–

‘Help,– ‘help,– ‘avast,– ‘stand here,– ‘run! — everywhere.–

X

CONFUSION sat upon his Babel-throne;

Men ‘hoarsely bawling’ — children, females, crying —

‘Fire! Fire!– will make a woman, or a child:

XI

A little time may bring the flames to bear

At greater distance or perhaps more near,

’Tis quite enough, I take it, to confound one.

XII

With puncheons, their comates in ‘durance vile– —

These rare deposits — men in ‘rank and file–

Barrels, and all the hoop-bound brotherhood

Were mix’d pell mell, the worthless with the good.

XIII

That crackling crash of falling beams of fire?

Down from its tottering height — up bursting higher

The fresh-fed flames voluminously ride

XIV

(Already many a mansion is no more;)

A simultaneous rushing from each door,

XV

Of headlong, headstrong, hurrying disorder;

Of ‘fall in here,– — (fruitless attempt at order) —

XVI

Which thoughtless man in mad confusion plays —

In a variety of frantic ways:

The costly cabinet in haste o’erturning,

With care he spoils, to save it from the burning.

XVII

Hath left the shelves of the deserted store:

Exposed, (but not for sale, forsooth,) to eyes

Which ill can brook temptation — but no more

Just now, of that — I’ll give it by and by;

(The farce you know succeeds the tragedy —)

Satan was there — not a mere looker-on, —

As much on the alert as any one. (3)

XVIII

Of human skill to deck the beauteous fair;

(Sorts without number in these modish days)

With piles of coarser and more ponderous ware,

‘Magnificently mingled in a litter.–

XIX

In their own ashes, levell’d to the dust — (4)

Of man’s terrene possessions — though to trust

In stone and wood and perishable things

(Baubles of earth which take to them swift wings

And soon are seen no more,) suits blind mortality

Perhaps by some invincible fatality.

XX

Is glowing, glaring, with a lurid light;

The well-cemented, massive walls are rent

Asunder instantaneously, despite

Of their iron bonds and inlaid fastenings,

Braces and bolts and other feeble things;

The subtile fire divides the very earth,

As if it long’d to see some young volcano’s birth. (5)

XXI

Types, tympans, cases, chases, and so on —

(The Printer’s indispensables — unless

Supplied with these, his ‘occupation’s gone–) —

From out their seat of danger, with success —

XXII

Shares in the spreading ruin — but success

The ponderous press and its appendages;

Another, and another now prepare

The fate just hinted at above to share;

The flames are check’d in their wild wantonness, —

And Heaven defends the fortunes of the Press! (6)

XXIII

Where greedy fires are flying to devour;

By turns a pitchy cloud is roll’d on high,

By turns hot embers from the ruins pour:

The flame, so fierce at first, fresh fury gains

‘And Vulcan rides at large with loosen’d reins;–

Huge piles, at his approach, aside are thrown,

‘And shiver’d by the force come tumbling down.–

XXIV

Moscow in miniature! it mocks the skill

Of pencil or of pen; fat vapours raise

A nauseous odour — storms of sparkles fill

Could e’er such mighty mastery withstand.

XXV

Half eaten by the fire’s intensity —

Enjoys the ruinous catastrophe:

XXVI

Vessels of iron are melted down like lead;

So fierce the fury of its fiery bed: —

XXVII

As flits the gossamer before the gale, —

Before the wind as well-trimm’d vessels sail, —

XXVIII

And spirally around their summits play,

‘Stand by– — (the passing order) — ‘cut away– —

Or mast and hull had haply gone together,

XXIX

His final victim — see that edifice,

By sudden tempest blast) — how soon it lies

XXX

Looks down upon a sad, a sickening scene;

So fair a portion of our City gone!

Undreamt of at his going down, I ween;

In ashes our commercial vineyard lies,

Nor can it quickly from its ruins rise;

Nor soon those giant fabrics tow’r again

Along that smoking desolated plain.

XXXI

Hath executed its dread purposes;

But the same hand which brings to nothingness,

From seeming ill educing real good.

XXXII

Endow’d with youthful strength is feign’d to rise;

In fairer form before our gladden’d eyes —

‘Thrice happy ye, whose walls already rise– — (8)

XXXIII

Nor upward raise a thought? Behold the care

Of elements in uncontroll’d career

XXXIV

Are now the passing interrogatories —

Men seek to know, but fruitlessly inquire —

And I shall not just now record their stories;

XXXV

That thieves their work were plying — a dark tale —

To what extent man’s vices will prevail!

XXXVI

Most faithful of all servants — with what zeal

And vehicles — so sweet the task to steal:

XXXVII

And pierce them with its most envenom’d stings!

They pilfer’d from the ruin’d, the distrest —

Kings were made beggars, beggars were made kings —

(T’ indulge a little in hyperbole

Allowable, you know, in Poetry) —

But still ’tis said that pilfering was the order

Of that dread night of burning and disorder.

XXXVIII

Scathed not their dwellings — the destructive hand

Of blind impetuous hurry — the desire

To save from burning, and the plundering band

All coalesced to lessen the sum total

Of their — et cetera — ’tis hard to quote all —

But moveables quite numerous they say

Thus took unto them wings and flew away. (10)

XXXIX

A subject which involves the common good —

I mean some method to prevent th’ extension

Of kindling burnings — (hard to be subdued

When raging at their height) — a means at hand

XL

Through that eventful, memorable night; —

Nor poet paint, nor eulogy require:

XLI

Be patient, you are verging to the end;

If you should feel no int’rest, I deplore you,

My most deplorable unfeeling friend;

‘You don’t like poetry– — now such a one

Is fit for ‘spoils and treasons,– and so on;

But you like truth — nor much dislike to know

That you’ve escaped what others have pass’d through.

XLII

Explanatory of these burning Dramas —

Flight of the wand’ring Muse: ’twill be the same as

XLIII

The hour of danger — ere I close my lays

Another lofty fabric, wrapp’d in flames, (11)

Becomes a ruin’d shell: — not twice ten days

—    Go — faulty sheets — seek to be understood, —

By some deem’d nonsense, and by others good.  

Notes to the Burning City

1. When the alarm was sounded, it was ascertained that a Store on Peters' Wharf, occupied by Messrs. Robertson & Hatton, was in flames: and so rapid was the fire in its progress, that not even the books and papers of the Firm were saved.

2. Now, although it cannot be supposed that the Military could be actuated by feelings exactly similar to those entertained by the Citizens, who were so particularly, so personally interested;—they nevertheless vied with the latter in the most unremitted exertions, and their services demanded and gained the tribute of grateful acknowledgement.

3. As is too common in cases of this sort, thefts were numerous: and the villainous miscreant was robbing the unfortunate in all directions—like the vulture on the field of carnage preying upon the afflictions of suffering humanity.

4. The scene at this time was terrifically awful, and awfully grand!  The City in flames—the atmosphere brilliantly illuminated; and masses of fire darting with meteoric velocity through the air.

5. After the flames became so extensive, the people were paralyzed in their endeavours to arrest them; and their efforts were thenceforward directed solely to the saving of property.

6. Two Printing Offices were totally destroyed, but the office materials were fortunately saved.  The contents of other Printing establishments were also removed in consequence of the contiguity of the fire, which providentially however, did not reach them.

7. The loss in shipping would doubtless have been great, had not the rising tide favoured the removal of several large vessels, which were towed off as soon as the water permitted.

8. The City's motto: "O Fortunati! quorum jam m