Lyric Poem · Funny
A Word from the Fire Marshal
We bought the pack of candles,
then went back and bought two more;
the cake is now a fire risk
the marshal can't ignore.
But count the flames as victories —
each year you've lived and laughed.
(And blow them out in sections, please.
We've staged the fire staff.)
Original poem © QuillOak — personal sharing is permitted.
“A Word from the Fire Marshal” by The QuillOak Editors — quilloak.com/poems/fire-marshal-birthday
Quick facts
- Poem
- A Word from the Fire Marshal
- Poet
- The QuillOak Editors
- Length
- 8 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Rhyming Poems
- Themes
- Funny, Happiness
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 8 lines · 2 quatrains
- Line length
- Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 7). No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Original QuillOak text. Personal sharing is permitted; other reuse requires permission.
- Author record
- The QuillOak Editorstoday
- Source record
- QuillOak originalA Word from the Fire Marshal, authored for QuillOak by The Quillery
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 3bcd82042c4ddcd6…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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