How satisfying it must have been,
suddenly to crack the secret code.
Their first flames, small as pencil tips
held trembling in the twilight air.
Huddled together on frozen ground,
faces painted by flickering light,
they leaned closer, once strangers,
now scholars of the primal warmth.
They watched the way wood surrendered,
branches whispering to the rising night.
The promise of heat and safety circled
as shadows shifted and fears melted away.
Smoke curled up in reluctant ascent,
a signal of mastery and the new.
They learned the language of embers,
as meat browned and juices sizzled.
Predators once lurking in the dark
now glared from the outermost ring,
their gleaming eyes a respectful distance
from this marvel of controlled inferno.
In the grip of the fire’s first joy,
they tasted not just meat but future,
centered around that warm core,
a shared spark echoing through time.