Authored: August 26, 2023

On the Horizon, we witnessed the burning of Nature, if only we could hear the screams of ancient beings perishing. Everything had turned. The heat indexes rose. The air thick and putrid, barely healthy to breath. This night, the air hot, the ground cold. A rageful cold.

We tried to run, to drive away from the ring of fire. The raging tempest.

"Don't look back, babe," I called as we drove and swerved hot ash and fiery branches. "Don't look back..."

We passed through the dangerous torrent and into a browned plain of ashine. But our reprieve was due to end again.

Your soft quiet voice beside me. And I turned and saw the fires through your eyes. Like a mirror but broken. Your words, your words broke through my heart and bled all hope.

"We're all going to die. This is the writ. This is the sum of all fears. This Planet, our home. It has finally forsaken us. As we forsakened it."

I stopped the car on that empty roadway. A silence befell us. Except for the crackling laughter of the fires.