Don’t breathe
Don’t relax
Don’t let down your guard
Think snow
Pray for rain
For humidity
Cool conditions
Any moisture at all
Hope for the best
But still hold your breath
And wait for the other shoe to drop
Wondering
Will we dodge the bullet this year?
Or not…
Every year it arrives earlier
Lasts longer
Leaves later
And comes again
And again
100 years
Of fire suppression
Self-protective
Short-sighted
Human hubris
Forests overgrown
Density up
Diameter down
Deep duff
Dead wood
The cumulative
Accretions
Of an age
Decades of drought
Beetle kill
Climate change
Severe winds
Extreme heat
Dry
Desiccated
Brown
Dying
Carelessness
Illegal burning
Campfires
Poorly tended
Or not properly put out
Random sparks
Struck by a dangling
Trailer chain
The impingement
Of steel
On stone
A momentary lapse
A compressor
A generator
A chainsaw
A motorcycle muffler
A camp stove
A barbecue grill
Visitors
Locals
Fools alike
Sadly it only takes one
When all is said and done
Fireworks
A cigarette butt
Thoughtlessly flung
From an open window
Kids just being kids
Playing with matches
Mesmerized
By a flickering
Flame
Lightning strikes
And off it runs
Wind whipped
Crown fire
Devastating
To man, bird, and beast
Sap boils
Trees explode
Scorched earth
Blackened
Baked
Sterilized
Dead
Every year
The dread
The fear
Vast swaths
Of pristine paradise
Blazing
Creation aflame
Creatures flee
Smoke in the air
Smoke everywhere
In eyes and lungs
Yellow sky
Dimmed sun
Ashes fly
Wreaking
Devastation
Waste
Desolation
Landscapes
Transformed
To moonscapes
In moments
Seemingly never
To bloom
Or blush verdant
Again
(At least not in my lifetime)
Homes
Of man and beast
Reduced
To ash, rubble, ruin
Habitat
Possessions
Precious and mundane
Obliterated
Destroyed
Lifetimes
Left to memory
Crumbling away
Lost
Gone
Irreplaceable
Creation groans
Don’t breathe
Don’t relax
Don’t let down your guard
Hope for the best
Hunker down
And hold your breath
It’s fire season
D. Gee, April 2022
Close the forest, shut ‘er down — here we go again. Praying for rain, for all our hard-working fire crews, for safety, and for God’s protection and preservation of all His creatures and His creation. Poor stewards we be, unfortunately.