As destructive as life,
As healing as death;
An institutioner of strife,
Just as prone to bless.
It is all that is good,
Yet with an evil trend;
As it was the beginning of things,
It can also be the end.

The solution is indeed 4 letters as we should not have been. 

That it be Fire, Love or some other four letter thing, abstract or concrete, will be revealed in due course.

I could find situations whereby I fit "love" into each line here; line 3 - jealousy, line 4 - covet one's neighbour.  And the Love of a Supreme Being could answer lines 7 and 8; Genesis and an Armageddon.

"Just as prone to bless" - in some places "fire" is important to clear undergrowth and being regeneration.  In some places it is the practice of land users to fire their stubble and plough the ash into the soil.

Posted by brianjn on 2006-10-05 08:30:52