The Fire

The sky was on fire.
Inside she wept but she stood like a warrior
In the womb of Mother Earth’s destruction.
You can’t take it with you, she said.
It’s just stuff, she said
We are alive, that’s what’s important, she said
But in her heart, she wept.
For the memories swallowed by the flames
The treasures of experience exploded
and diminished into soot.
History combusted to nothingness.
OH SHE WEEPS.
For all the dinners cooked in her perfect kitchen,
devoured by the flames.
The blood sweat and tears of a family
fueled the rage as the burn consumed
it all whole, not a morsel left.
And so she wept; she wept in her heart.
Walking through the loss and the devastation,
she can’t help but look toward the red sun…
The sky changed color by smoke.
Standing on what once was her palace,
The memories rain down…ashes to dust.
The haunting beauty in this calamitous hardship
has birthed the seed of a new life.
We are safe, she said.
We have each other, she said.
We will prevail, she said.
As she stares into the fiery eye with grace and
fierce determination she screams:
I will laugh again,
I will rebuild,
I will grow stronger and
WE WILL carry on, we will overcome
and triumph,
yet again.