The agonized earth beyond
Is boundless, an ideal render
Singed by hatred
And this island, ever-shrinking
A cool green oasis of peace
Is where I stand
Yet the trees give only false hope
Erupting with thorns
They offer no comfort
All I can claim
Is this grass
“Claim”
This too
Can be taken away
The horizon beyond
Draped with an ashen blanket
Miry gray
A soft, sinking embrace
Of what once was
And before me, the fire looms up
The licking flames know no satiety
A sinuous orange mouth
Consuming all
In an encircling ring of destruction
You do it to yourself, and that’s what really hurts
I cannot run
Not for weariness, but for escape
The fire surrounds my world
As sure as any prison
As fast as any forged chain
With the feeling of dried up hopes in my throat
Like a mouthfull of chalk
Makes me desperate for water
Water that will never come
You do it to yourself
My little circle of grass
Cloaked in an inferno
That knows only hunger
The scarred, brown fog of sky
Stretches endlessly
Over this land
Not dead, yet no longer living
The fire has taken it all
And it rages on
Still