In Awe of Heat Waves

Fire was probably the first
God—clearly not a creature,
But growing or vanishing,

And ravenous, dangerous,
With a kind of agency.
Even later, even now,

Fire has worked and continues
To work, metonymically,
As many competing gods,

Including all your One Gods—
Burning bushes, rings of light,
Haloes, fiery auras.

When making sacrifices,
Fire serves as the mouth of God
Devouring what is offered.

Come to think of it, divine
Fire may have been precursor
To all worship of the sun—

Solar gods may have been coined
By analogy with hearths,
The sun like a giant hearth,

Where there is heat, there is fire—
And fire is a being kin
To no other, hungrier

Than any tiger, faster
Than any raptor, a gift
And a horror, like language.

To the extent fire is not
Quite the same as life, it cleared
Room, burnt open mind for gods.