Firefighter’s dilemma

by Hal Glanville

A man with a Pulaski is tough

And agile in his boots

He’s driven to be so

From where he shared his roots

But I am not a man

And neither are my sisters or my mother

We carry the same tools and wear the same soot

On the hill are stone houses

much like old stone castles

We are the the modern medieval

and the people are the vassals

Their taxes fuel our tromping feet

and the rev of our motors

Our battle with the flightless dragon

and the spin of our rotors

We carry on for them and paid fair

like the knights of old

By the cutting edge and swing of an axe our stories are told

By the trees that lay fallen

and sliced through by our chain

By the beast that lay still

and corralled but not slain

But we do not want it dead

like those that feed us do

There’s is good in that dragon

and all that it chews

Humans corrupted her

but still they blame and bemoan

Then why can’t every house

be made of stone?