… so wrote American writer and thinker Henry David Thoreau.

The imagery of fire is prevalent in cultures as a symbol of desire and love. Songs, dance, theatre, paintings, poetry, literature – in all art forms, we think of passion in terms of a fire within. Think of the following, for example:

• ‘Flame on burn desire / Love with tongues of fire’ – from ‘Relax’, Frankie Goes to Hollywood
• ‘Your love is like a burning fire / It keeps on burning burning burning / In my soul – from ‘Love Fire’, Simply Red
• As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words. – William Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona
• Love is like a friendship caught on fire.  In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering.  As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable. – Bruce Lee
• To love is to burn – to be on fire, like Juliet or Guinevere or Eloise… – Emma Thompson writing on Sense and Sensibility

It is no accident that my romance novel set in sultry Kenya is entitled Burning Embers, for it tells the story of two people irrepressibly drawn to each other with strong feelings of attraction and love. Take the following excerpts:

• Her face alone burned with passion, and her eyes, steadily fixed upon the man she apparently loved, were afire.
• She had responded to his furious desire with equal fire…
• Her face felt suddenly hot as the gold in his eyes intensified, burning into hers as though trying to read her most secret thoughts.
• The desire that burned his body…
• The burning embers that were smoldering dangerously in both their minds and their bodies…

I particularly enjoyed writing the scene in the book in which Coral and Rafe are forced to take shelter in a cave to escape a wild storm. To warm the shivering pair, and to soothe Coral who is afraid of the storm, Rafe lights a fire. There is something so romantic about firelight, and in this scene it reflects the emotions of the characters themselves.

But as Thoreau so eloquently put it, fire is not enough in and of itself – the light which the fire provides is essential to the relationship.  The fire of love must light the way for the couple in life, as well as warming and fuelling their passion. Indeed, I would go a step further and suggest that the fire must not only be a light, but enlighten – the love must empower a journey of self-discovery to a place of balance, acceptance and joy.