Crimson flares on nights dark curtain,

Tortured metal writhes in pain,

Shattered glass, smoking plastic,

Windows break and fall from their frames,

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Screams pierce the sirens wail,

A woman’s despair and fear,

A child’s cry within the blaze,

Choking on fumes and tears,

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Braving the searing heat and debris,

Closer they fight the flames,

Uniforms carry coils of hose,

Through rubble shed like skin,

Fields of ladders appear to grow,

Silhouetted figures move in,

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Axes rise and fall in time,

Beating a path to the child,

Masked and brave beyond duties call,

They enter the inferno inside,

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Crowds are silent as they await,

An outcome balanced between bravery and fate,

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From hells jaws emerge figures of fire,

Leaping into comrades arms,

Smothered by others,

Blankets and bodies wrapped fast,

Lowered to her mother’s arms,

Her child is safe at last,

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Firefighters, exhausted, slump to the ground,

The building falls majestically,

A symphony of fire and sound