Fear

Unadulterated fear
As far as the eyes can see
The heat that’s coming at us
Being felt by me
An agony where all I know
Is rapidly no more
All the trees
The birds and bees
Are in an unholy war

Which way should we run to
Whichever way we choose
Agony is out there
It is just bad news
The silent screams are loudest
When friends are close at hand
When rivulets of fire and brimstone
Rush across this land

At every turn the burning
The sensation of the fire
To be eternally frightened
To know one’s life is dire
The noise of conflagration
The swallowing of air
The burning racking cracking
Those noises they all scare

The darkly smell of burning
Turning toward where
Exhaustion and it’s infamy
That every soul does share
Mothers and their babies
Elders and their friends
Suffering the vagaries
That perhaps just never ends

The sky is full of yellow
And also spattered red
A rainbow of emotions
Where many souls are dead
Caught up in the firestorm
Burning everywhere
Like a flaming dervish
Breathing pure despair

Enemies together
Sharing breathing space
Clutching at each other
All hopeful as we chase
This way that way any way
To enter a bold peace
And not hear the constant pleading
Of those seeking release

We are burning up
Time waits no longer
The firestorm everywhere
We run into each other
Every breath we share
Scorched and burnt a cinder
Black and wizened we
Are holed up in this life of ours
What of our destiny

Death on every level
From the ground up to the sky
Every creature suffering
Their cries and some now die
Everywhere like tinder
Marsupials in flight
Every single entity
Caught up in the blight

Great curtains of resentment
Are now just everywhere
The bickering is sickening
We know that nothings clear
The dust the dirt the ash the soil
Everywhere we go
Is burning and concerning
Whether high or low

And will there be a let up
Or are we doomed to be
Victims everyone of us
Even those we cannot see
In the ground under rocks
Up the tallest tree
Savaged by the raging heat
That’s even come for me

My hair is dark and shrivelled
My breath is painfully
Burning in my troubled breast
Where once I too was free
To leap across the outback
To whistle with the breeze
But now my life is ebbing
And I feel it in my knees

Fear and strong emotions
Are out there in the night
Even the moon is crying
Angered by the blight
Storm clouds they are coming
There are no paths no more
All lead to a hell on Earth
And of being extra sore

Can you hear the prayers of all of us
Collectively we shout
We are the wind we are the rain
We are what life’s about
With every step the desperation
Comes back the other way
We are dancing at the end of life
Which just might be today.