T here is great peace
night-wandering
these slumbering mountains
spellbinding
these vast forests
asleep with moon dreams
gently coaxed
by midnight breezes
sterling ripples glint
atop moonlit
crystal clear
glacial cut lakes
their chill
cerulean depths
hold me enchanted
ancient secrets
whispered by these waters
echo hauntingly
in the old growth treetops
stirring to flight
a great white owl
these pristine mountains
take my breath
unspoiled natural beauty
stretching beyond eye’s reach
night zephyrs
wafting high
through conifer boughs
release a heady intoxicant
moonlight drifts down
dreamlike
setting aglow
the forest’s canopy
pierced by silver’d beams
a sky of stars
dance diamond-like
on the mirroring lakes
unleashing the serene
and the sacred
of this place — so unique
but this night
there also stirs the sorrow
of careless human arrogance
these night breezes
are unbreathable
whipped by rolling flames
to blistering winds
choked with soot
the rivers black
strangled with char
as wild fires rage
and wildlife screams
scattering in panic
terrified
as life is consumed
all life
will there ever be
cries enough
to be heard
midst smoldering debris
a horrifying discovery
the burnt head
of a child’s doll
the child lost
in the blackened devastion
like a cruel omen
a tear trickles down
the smoke stained doll’s cheek
my heart breaks
deeply I weep
will there ever
be tears enough
to again cleanse pure
this defiled paradise
*
rob kistner © 2021
Poetry at: The Sunday Muse
Poetry at: Poets & Storytellers
So much devastation running across such a large area! Your poem captures so much from the beautiful intro to the close. Moving, lovely, and true to the heart.
The visual prompt really moved and inspired me Carrie! 🙂
Oh, Rob, what a tear-jerker (no pun intended). This is in-your-face reality, beautifully written, and with heart-rending musical accompaniment.
Thank you Bev, very much! 🙂
Take heart. In the words of the philosopher Alice Cooper, dead babies can take care of themselves. (I always felt a little guilty for liking that song!)
Yes, and Lyle Lovette warned us that fat babies have no pride. https://youtu.be/DSeZo3kDfXQ
Rob, finding the charred doll’s head in the midst of the hell you describe is a haunting image. I fear you are right about the tears.
These ard haunting times Lisa — madness run amuck.
Deeply I weep.
As do I Helen!
Yes, it is almost beyond words, but you have found some.
Brett, it’s a very sad taie about human stupidity & arrogance!
California has gotten ahead of our Texas now in wildfire acres. 10.4KAcres to 6.8KAcres, we have National Forests too but more grass fires than trees.
Nice write, Rob. Not nice the human and wildlife deaths, but the humans are only a trifle compared to GUN shots.
..
2019 Texas gun deaths 3,683 to California’s 2,945.
Total U.S. 14,414.
..
It has gotten gun crazy and death scary out there jim.
“will there ever
be tears enough
to again cleanse pure
this defiled paradise”
BRAVO!!!
HAPPY SUNDAY
MUCH?LOVE
Thsnk you Gillena! 🙂
The poem is filled with such deep ache! But that is how life works. Everything is not a bed of roses.
How clever, to insert the doll’s face within your writing. Your words gave the image a metaphorical hug, as they underlined its message. ?
That felt like where it belonged Jinksy!
Oops – no idea where that question mark got into the act!
🙂 OK
Yes, it is beyond words what is happening and yet your soul, your creativity found words. Thank you for writing it. I needed to read it.
Thank you Susie. I feel angry, I feel helpless, I feel guilty, knowing in my own lazy, foolish ways I have contributed to the evolving tragedies. But I also feel compelled to learn to do the small things I can do, to make this a better world, socially and ecologically — and to never cease to speak out. I realize I am but one in many, shouting for a better way, but we need to seriously increase our collective volume — because far too few have heard, or chosen to listen.
wow first the beautiful description of paradise, then the devastation caused by men’s negligence and greed, causing these heart wrenching situations Oh if ever enough tears could cleanse I would cry a lake. Thanks for this amazing poem
Thank you Marja. We foolish humans are destroying our paradise but upsetting the ecological balance of the planet. What’s worse, is we seem to be apathetic towards the disaster that is unfolding. Your region of the planet may be one of the most beautiful. I hope NZ can maintain its natural balance. Being geographically separated as you are, perhaps you can be a stronghold? My glorious Pacific Northwest is feeling the impact of the climate shift, resulting in devastating wildfires, increasing in length and intensity every year. Perhaps its nature striking back the cleanse this planet. COVID AND now the Delta Mutation seems hellbent of reducing the human scourge.??
So deeply captivated by the beginning of this, only to be caught in the horror of the end. Excellently devastating.
Thank you Chrissa… 🙂
very evocative poem, first of the great peace and resource for our souls that is nature, then of the hell that is our current state of wantonly destroying it. “will there ever be/cries enough/to be heard” indeed. It seems we as a society are deaf to them.
Thank you hedgewitch! Yes, we must listen. We have much to understand.
This brings back memories of the devastating fires here in Australia in our summer of 2019-20. Hell on earth!
This is the season here in PacNW, and each yeay escalates… 🙁