Après l’incendie de forêt (After the forest fire)

The eye sees
The heart burns
A forest fire rages
On the perimeter
Of log homes
They’ve recruited
Extra people
To help the firefighters
These ones
Imprisoned
Behind bars
Doing penance
Can fly free
From their cages
Just to help
Put out the
Forest fires
Burning acres
Of arable lands
Forestry
All risking
Smoke inhalation
Their lungs protesting
As the winds become
Gusty and sweep
The fire from the forest
To the log homes
Devouring everything
Everyone
In the fire’s path
Leaving no stone
Unturned
A burning
Landscape
Scorched
Hot
Smoky
Entombing
Without embalming
With chaos
After the fire
Stops burning
The last flicker
Subsides
All that’s left
Is nature’s mausoleum
A vast cathedral
Of nature’s hope
That the lives
Lost here today
Will become
The fodder
For regrowth.