Caught.
Air-blue was the skirt of quick
freshening breeze.
It danced as it travelled across
rustle-dry meads.
Poured itself through thin thorn
fronting water.
Seared leaves against rock split
with sun's torture.
Stirred dust until wisps of light
smoke caught fine twigs.
Lit, that first glow birthed fire's
dread beginning.
Like a side-winding snake flew
flame down hillside.
Eyes who had seen this before
became frightened.
Forest blaze brooks no respect
for life in the wild
Inferno's insatiably dire greed
intends no survivors.
-
Author:
Fay Slimm. (
Offline) - Published: June 24th, 2021 05:04
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 40
Offline)
Comments8
I have seen for my very self the devastation such fire can have and all around ..
I have seen for my very self the despair, shock and horror on the faces of those who have also witnessed such an event ...
and not so very long ago upon the moor when the annual controlled burning got all too swiftly out of hand ............
Exceptionally good Fay in my most humble opinion .........
Neville ..... x
Yes once seen Nev. this kind of inferno is never forgotten -- twas a news item originally that gave me the urge to write as poor souls were burnt in the furnace both human and animal. Thanking you too for sharing your own experience of fire- devastation...........x
I shudder at the thought and daydream of my asbestos pyjamas should fire strike at night.
I have seen how the lazy smoke dances on a chosen breeze as the knowing men tend their heathland fires. Never seen a forest fire though.
But truly you brought shudders here. More so than the disasrer fires we see on TV.
Thanks for your comment on Caught as I felt the subject of fire-devastation needed an airing again Dusk - it was written quite a while back after seeing a news item along with pictures of those fleeing the flames - - shudder we may at the power of fire eh ? --
Very well written Fay.
Grateful for your visit and comment on Caught my friend . - fires out of control leave such devastation.
Fire that made Homo sapiens, human, yet we are still subservient to its awesome and destructive power, as you have so eloquently penned here
I second your statement on the force of fire Suresh - --awesome indeed are flames not under control.
Good write, Fay.
Thanks Jerry - I appreciate your visit and read of Caught
Thanks Fay. A richly worded piece.
I live in the middle of a heavily built up and populated city, on high ground. Flood, and fire (the subject here) are due to become even more endemic than they are already in Australia.
My bush-fire experience in the middle of last season's flames was extremely limited as the smoke pall outside my front door made even that step a health hazard.
Devastation and Government response unspeakable... I understand Hawaii was a nice safe spot....
Fine words Fay, nature will always win.
Andy
decades later and my training videos, loom back
larger than life
see, people wrongly assume when the fire is extinguished
so, the healing begins - when rather
its the opposite that occurs
for only, when that catastrophic threat of burning alive
is allowed to simmer, to the back of people's mind
do they then: begin
to feel and experience, the sheer horror
of what they've just witnessed, endured
and mind-shatteringly: survived;
by the Fated whimsy
of the same Luck, that abandoned - all those
now, forevermore destined to be categorised
as mere casualties
to Mother Nature's insatiable flames: of Wrath...!
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