Mind of its own – A Poem

Flames above,

I enter the water below.

Gasping for breath,

crying when I have it.

Grasping an old wood bridge, cover

from hellfire all ‘round.

Children, flesh of my flesh,

cling to each other

like living life rafts, coughing

stagnant water.

I used to sit here, used to fish

on clear, sweet days,

but the wild fire came unbidden.

The fire has a mind

all its own,

unconscious malevolence.

Wildfire is Earth’s rage, let loose.

I wait in the stagnant water,

clinging to a larger piece of tinder.