Angelwing's SMILES4U - Poetry Corner: The Fire by Greg Loesch

The Fire

Lightning struck the forest, just the other day
And the trees and burrows fell,
The fauna, they scurried from their losses
And wept for their young and ill.

The sun stayed up, the wind stood still
And I saw not one ashen quake
But I know for a fact that some were inside
And died for honor's sake.

The blackened hell of nature's fury
Washed upon the snow
And the wretched glanced up to the sky
And cursed the tragic inferno.

I sing to them, the meek and dead
The souls who will never rebuild
Their civilization that flourished and died
Atop the wooded hill.

Through the nights, the creatures entered
The charred and wretched site
Where before, they frolicked
And easily slept at night.

We weep for these misfortunate souls,
Those without a home,
We turn our heads in sorrow,
And write it in our poems.

As when all the world was young
And all the leaves of green
And all the world was a song
And sparkled, crystal clean.

But now the world is old,
And every tree is brown
And every hope is static
And homes are all burnt down.

The creatures all walk back there
The distraught and ruined among,
And pray they find a place there
Like when the world was young.

I gain no rest in slumber,
When memories brush my eyes
My thoughts often wander
And my breath often sighs.

My rest leaves me no sleep
When the shadows of those dead
That my eyes may never see.
Shroud my weary bed.

I often think of the wooded town
Embedded in the trees.
Often my thoughts go round and round
What they are forced to see.

They'll gather, they'll create with what they can
A grander dwelling place
Where birds will sing and contemplate
Amid their airy space.

The groundlings have earned an equal place
Amidst the broken hearts
And start again, and try again
Inside the soot and dark.

Time has cleansed the gloomy boughs
And my story is now sung,
And the forest is alive again
Like when the world was young.