Someone dropped a burning match
Unheeded by the way
It caught in fire some underbrush;
Its user did not stay.
From grass to brush, from brush to tree,
So stealthily it ran,
That no one ever guessed or knew
Just where that fire began.

Someone built a campfire
And failed to put it out.
A breeze came and quickened;
The embers spread about;
And soon the woods were blazing.
The fire spread took long years to grow
Stand blackened now and dead.

Someone saw a little fire
As he was passing by.
He did not stop to put it out;
He did not even try.
He had not started it, of course;
He had no time to spare;
That it might start a forest fire
He did not even care.

Myrtle Barber Carpenter (March 15, 1927- December 2, 2005): She was a twentieth- century poet and author. She was widely involved in writing for children. Other than poems, she has written two plays for children,Her Uncle's Bootsand Three Wise Old owls: A Play For The Younger Children.

1. blazing: burning brightly and strongly
2. breeze: light wind
3. campfire: outdoor fir used for heating or warming by the people in the tents
4. embers: the hot, red pieces of wood left behind after the fire has burnt out
5. quickened: became faster
6. spare: (here, of time) to make available or free time
7. stealthily: quietly or secretly
8. underbrush: a group of bushes that grows under trees or woods
9. unheeded: unnoticed