Camp Fire Wood Poem

You can sit by the camp-fire, watching
The leap of the yellow flame,
But the wood of each tree is different,
And no two burn the same.

ASH I reckon the finest kind:
Burns good whether green or dry.
POPLAR, now, is no manner of use;
You might just as well let it lie.

PINE-CONES and FIR-CONES, they're kindling wood;
They're handy to use as such.
Dry JUNIPER boughs burn fierce and hot,
But flare and crackle too much.

BIRCH burns quickly, is mighty good
If your fire be newly lit;
And remember that FIRS are useful too,
But, I warn you, they spark a bit!

There's magic, Guides, in the camper's fire;
It's been told of in song and rhyme,
And the light of it shines down darkened years
To the dim beginning of time.

- G Briggs (The Girl Guide Annual 1964)