Fire Storm.............................Pertnikoff

Fire Storm

Upon train wheels of steel and
Hot dry spaces left too long
Within climate shifting rot
It came

A southern wind
Hot and dry
Filled with pine needle ash
Floating desperately around me

I thought the roar was a train
It should have been
But for the cracking splinter
Of fire torn tinder 1/2 km away

Roaring closer
I did not believe
Blaming the neighbor in my mind
But he was not there

When they came, red lights flashing
Dragging hose down the steep drive
I did not believe
Until the storm roared loud and hot

In sixty foot flames and ashen smoke
And an order to clear the house.
Time enough to grab a jacket and shoes
Hoping for wallet and keys and phone

That were not there

The sun turned orange
With heat flashing bright
like a campfire on my back as I ran
Only it was 100 meters away

As I drove away it burned deep
Within my believe
That there would be no home
Lifetimes of memories and hopes now gone

All I had grasped and wrapped around
That moment to come
But I did not believe
Even if I had to

There is no sense in why the wind turned west
As it came upon the corner
Turning from the row of houses
Where five families lived

Why 25 acres blackened and reft raw
Slowly turns green again
Where memories of bliss
Burned away in some renewal

I do not understand
And by the grace of the Goddess
Of my understanding
I still live.


Pertnikoff

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