Hymn to the Fire

Should fire be thine essence, serve the fire thou must.

If dust thine sbustance, in mouldering earth put thy trust.

But wouldst heavenward thine yearning be,

lo! thusly intones this minstrel his tune for thee:

Our stuff, of dust and ashes aren’t we wrought?

Nay, out of soil springeth forth thought.

’Tis thine fate to ashes once return,

yet ’till then, time is given thee to brightly burn.

What burneth? Matter. What consumeth it?

God, the Spirit, the timeless Fire lit.

’Tis human fortune to take on a charcoal form,

in earth’s bosom long slumber, then transform,

be roused to ardour, to toil and noble fight,

at the Maker’s call, trust in meridian light,

fulfil dreams cherished for centuries and ages,

of our fathers, long dead, those gray sages.

Fleeting is life in this earthly frame.

Let us, then, burn with a roaring flame,

in fire let’s soar on a heaven-bound road.

Dust to dust, but heaven is spirit’s abode.

Eino Leino, Pyhä kevät 1901

Tranlated by Partow Izadi