The world is on fire. And I’m not speaking only of the combustion of carbon dioxide, water vapor, oxygen, and nitrogen that is decimating the Amazon rain forest. The casualties of this inferno are obviously the trees, and also the creatures that call the forest home, the people who live there, and the very air that we breath.

There are other fires though, that continue to rage out of control. It is the fire of hatred, of fear, of greed. I admit I often feel helpless to stop these fires; powerless to stand in the face of caustic rhetoric and the chasms formed in its wake. Cries of “do something” feel weak and futile against a force so dark. It is hard to see the light.

In times like these I am tempted to hide myself away in the hope that I can ride it out until the ugliness passes. But what good can come of letting a fire rage out of control unchallenged? We are ultimately left with nothing if we do nothing. Though I admit doing something often feels like spitting on a wildfire, I still have to try.

So I do what I can. Love when I can. Help when I can. It’s the very least I can do, and if others do the same we will end up not with nothing, but a few flickers of light, perhaps an unscorched seed amidst the embers; a glimmer of hope to start again. We always rebuild. Even when we have a mess to clean up. Peace all.

Sunday’s week in ReVerse – 25 August 2019

magnificence, adorned in grace,
amidst the scorch, shrouded in haze, nothing remains
we carry with us days
refusing to become undone
but no one seemed to have made the cut
there’s little time for vain regret
temperature are rising higher
squandering our greatest treasures
underneath gray smoke-choked skies

~kat

A ReVerse poem is a summary poem with a single line lifted from each entry of a collection of work over a particular timeframe and re-penned in chronological order as a new poem. Unlike a collaborative poem, the ReVerse features the words of one writer, providing a glimpse into their thoughts over time. I use it as a review of the previous week.