Stay Warm

Chipped from Gravel and Gold 
 BEECHWOOD fires are 

bright and clear

If the logs are kept a year.

CHESTNUT’S only good, they say,
If for long it’s laid away.

BIRCH and FIR logs burn too fast,
Blaze up bright and do not last.

ELM wood burns like a churchyard mould;
Even the very flames are cold.

POPLAR gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and make you choke.

APPLE wood will scent your room
With an incense like perfume.

OAK and MAPLE, if dry and old,
Keeps away the winter’s cold.

But ASH wood wet, and ash wood dry,
A king shall warm his slippers by.

Ode to a Woodburner
-Anonymous