Inspiration Weekly - Fire

The inspiration for this week is Fire. Sadly all thoughts of bonfires and toasting marshmallows were driven out of my head by the horrific actions of a man in Sydney, who set fire to the nursing home he worked in. The thought of what the poor residents went through still makes me want to cry, especially as they are suffering from dementia.
I know Sarah is feeling a similar angst. It's a difficult separation of art and reality.

This poem was prompted by a fire in Cape Town during my last year in Uni. It burnt hectares of fynbos which needs controlled burns to regenerate and maintain a plant population. We got taken up to one of the burn sites by our biology lecturer to do some course work on the hill.


Fire on the hill.

Wind-fanned flames crest the ridge

Sparks float higher, trailing light through the dark

With bated breath we watch as few animals flee

Ahead of the heat, racing into the wilderness of suburbia

Caught up in the inferno,

Smaller creatures succumb to the blistering heat.

Towering trees topple, shrubs burn to the ground,

The gun-shot sound of exploding trees echoes

Above the stage-whispering of the flames.

Later that month, we walk the ridge

Tripping through the bone white ash,

Investigating the need for controlled fires

Amongst the debris of tree and shrub,

Tiny shoots nestle close to the fragile skeleton of a too-slow mouse.