The Arsonist

He had always admired pyrotechnics;
At school Phoenix was a kinaesthetic learner,
In Chemistry he gazed avidly at the skill
Of Mr Jackson with a Bunsen burner,
He recreated experiments at home
With wood and paper and matches,
And dreamt of Elizabethan cottages
Capped in thick and flammable thatches,
His Mother called Dr Harding out
When the whirligig thoughts in his head
Led to an incident with a Catherine Wheel
And the burning of his bed,
Before long he craved an audience
Beyond the doctor and his mum
He pored over home insurance papers -
The numbers revealed a princely sum,
He would fill the dark with orange light
And demonstrate the scientific fact
That in the dead and middle of the night
Everyone has their melting point
And he had simply cracked.