Hail Almighty Human
Scream, as the terror is with us. Strike a match, ignite the fire, burn and burn and burn. We watch in helpless horror as the forest fire rages. Pillars of smoke and flame that engulf the trees, lay waste to the land, destroy our hopes and kill our lives. The shock, the death, the despair. No more fire, we scream in fright, as one of the worst years for forest fires is now starting to pass. It was everywhere. The smell, the cold, the choking fumes, hundreds of kilometers away and still it affects us. The sky is a fog, the mountains vanish, the sun is gone and the light is dim. Properties gone, their fortunes fade, one deathly blunder and our lives are changed. Sometimes forever, sometimes for years, the horror of fire leaves a wake filled with tears.
Fighting against it, fighting the odds, the perils of a task so immense to complete. Save our homes, save our lives, save our destiny, try, try, try. The screams of terror, as it all lays to waste, the burden to rebuild, to be strong in it’s face. The plight of the people, as smoke fills the air, of all of life running, to save what it can.
As the autumn is coming,the fall colors are hear, hoping that snow will make everything clear. The cold and the wet, the snowfall might do it, put out the fires that humans can’t manage to. The constant struggle, the constant fear, this has been one of the worst fire records, of all years.
The forest succumbs, it takes lives with it, those too tired, too slow, too young, too old. The toll of the fire is much more than property. The loss of the forest, the loss of the land, the goodness and value that go hand in hand. The life supporting forest, that we all need and love, is the doom of the wild, when it burns to dust. Gone is the wild song, the singing, the praises, the love of joy, of living, that saves us. When the world is quiet, there’s a sound no more, the sound of hearts beating to build and restore. The sound of the quiet is a deafening tone, of mountains without life, where all is just stone.
The quiet, too quiet, it reminds us of something. This is the great planet, full of life and living things. They should be talking, we should be listening, to hear a slither, a crack, a croak, or a twitter. Here in the quiet, there isn’t any talking, no one to hear them, they run from something. Even without fire, smoke is in the air, it’s too much for many and the quiet is result. A world without the great wild is a world without care. No songs to sing, from birds out there.
The elk now call, they start to rut, another life cycle, in a forest, with luck.
Written by Dr. Louise Hayes
September 23, 2017