House of Myrrh — Summary

I still burn for you

I still rise over youthful flame Ray-Ban eyes melt in heat from Your hot-sun-heart

I still dance like a limberjack

The flame tongue tickles

Tn all the right places

I still burn for you

Gonna be a man some day

But for now I dance to a torch song And the song keeps calling your name

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The speaker is still hung up on someone, and the poem keeps saying so. "I still burn for you" opens and closes it, like a chorus that won't let go. Everything in between is built from heat: flame, a "hot-sun-heart," even sunglasses that seem to melt. The speaker is drawn to the other person's warmth, and the flame teases and pleases more than it hurts.

The image of dancing "like a limberjack," a jointed wooden toy moved by a stick, suggests someone who isn't fully in control, jerked around by feeling. The line "Gonna be a man some day" sounds both boyish and a little rueful, as if the speaker knows this longing belongs to an earlier, younger self but hasn't outgrown it. The "torch song" at the end is a neat pun, since a torch song is about unrequited love, and it keeps calling the other person's name. The mood is playful, warm, and a bit wistful.

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