Bread and Fire

When evening laid the roads to rest,
And rain came beating from the west,
She kept one candle by the door,
And bread she’d earned upon the floor.

For every soul who crossed alone,
With weary feet and name unknown,
She judged no crest, she praised no name,
But chose who entered from the rain.

No law compelled her hand to give,
No priest prescribed the way to live.
Her bread, her fire, her roof, her choice,
Her open door, her living voice.

Bread and fire,
Warm and bright,
Given freely through the night.
Not from duty, not from fear,
But for those she welcomed here.

Bread and fire,
Earned and made,
Nothing owed and nothing paid.
What I build is mine to give,
What I choose defines how I live.

One winter night beneath the storm,
A silent man came cold and worn.
His cloak was torn, his face concealed,
No crest or title was revealed.

She served the bread her hands had made,
And poured the wine for which she’d paid.
He asked what debt he had incurred,
She met his eyes and gave her word.

“I owe no stranger bread or bed,
Nor must I leave the hungry fed.
But what is mine is mine to share,
And I have judged you worth my care.”

Bread and fire,
Warm and bright,
Given freely through the night.
Not from duty, not from fear,
But for those she welcomed here.

Bread and fire,
Earned and made,
Nothing owed and nothing paid.
What I build is mine to give,
What I choose defines how I live.

At morning, riders filled the square,
With silver shields and banners fair.
The stranger stood, his hood withdrawn,
A crown now burning in the dawn.

She did not kneel or turn aside,
She met the sovereign eye to eye.
He smiled and said, “That is the thing:
You fed the man, and not the king.”

Bread and fire,
Warm and bright,
Given freely through the night.
Neither crown nor law can claim
The hand that tends another’s flame.

Bread and fire,
Earned and made,
No sacred debt that must be paid.
What we build is ours to give,
What we choose defines how we live.

So keep your candle by the door,
And guard the things you’ve labored for.
Give neither guilt nor crown their due:
Let every gift be chosen true.