Cold hot death

Been thinking about death lately. Not because I'm depressed or anything but I've been reading this book which has some issues about death. So which is more destructive - fire or ice?

Both lethal yet life sustaining. Both opposites, both enemies of each other. I've always wondered about the hypothetical question of whether freezing or burning to death is the better alternative. I think I'd rather freeze (a long deep slumber) than bear the pain and agony of being roasted alive.

Fire is more destructive. Ironically, hell is pictured as both fiery (Christian depiction) and icy (think Dante's ninth circle of hell). But imagine a world ravaged by flames and a world covered in ice - peaceful, still and bright. Surely ice is less terrifying. Again, think of how animals and humans live and venture to the coldest regions of Earth yet few can survive the heat of the Earth's fire - volcanic craters. Picture a body encased in ice and a body burnt into ashes. I can imagine the terror of burning in an inferno.

But perhaps ice is a more menacing killer. It kills noiselessly, sneakily and cleanly. You might not even know you're dead.

Anyway this is the poem that had me thinking so much about such morbid stuff:

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

- Robert Frost