Embers

Ancient embers burn through rows of trees their trunks and limbs defaced
Billowing smoke suffocates the breath acrid soot hastens fleeting
Calm invoked the mask is placed and oxygen begins to flow
Dust on the ground crunchy burnt limbs under foot creeping
Every breath taken the wind moves across your path
Forever it seems to burn white hot oak now turned to ash
Gone are the trunks of 200 year old gentle beasts
Hiding on the hills in hope they won't burn and fall with a crash
In the air smoke filled visions of light dancing on the clouds
Just in time the water bird swoops and douses all my limbs
Kinfolk gather and hope their hamlet will be spared
Leaning in and holding close their loved ones singing hymns
Mountains direct the fires burning on peaks and valleys down below
No time to waste grab all your things and knickknacks that mean the most
Once there was a childhood home now which stands just a chimney alone
Panicked faces dampened sweaty full of fear they lost all hope
Questions answered with not answers but more questions ringing false
Roaring in their ears the sirens deafening the solace gone
Silence as the trees they breath relief and dancing as they waltz
Tucking in between the gullies formed by water poured since dawn
Under blanketed ground of ash the light soon gives the sprouts their due
Valleys mountains hills and crests begin to enrich once fire's through
What was once a barren wasteland full of blackened trunks and soot
Xenial growth the pollen spreads and pedals will once again renew
Yesterday the ground it crunched under dusty feet creeping through flames
Zestful life like spring today sprung up through ground that forever remains