Authored by James Patrick Kinney, this poem describes the tragic death of a group of six who stand around a fire - each holding on grimly to a log of wood. Allowing their selfishness, prejudice, malice and suspicions to dictate their actions, they refuse to share the log to fuel the dying fire and keep each other warm.
Eventually, the fire dies out and in the morning all six of them are found frozen to death, each clutching , even in death, a log that could have so easily saved their lives if only they had overcome the petty barriers of class, race and religion that divided them
