A week of fire

Eerily beautiful

placid day...

Beyond the pleading,

heat-battered mountains

the stubborn

indolent plums

mimic angry, sardonic clouds

in their thickest, stoutest likeness

lending a

diffused,

quasi-mystical,

dreamlike quality

to the valley straggling below

shrouded

by the graying whiteness

of hoarsely conquering smoke

sporadically and shyly

broken

by the timid,

meekly jaundiced rays

of a lazy, uninviting sun

barely stirring

the staleness,

the inertia,

the stillness

that surrounds the landscape.

Astride and above the assaulted horizon

a rainbow of ashes

commandeers the sky

rendering neutral

highly diluted,

agglutinating,

pensive hues

of reflective,

melancholic colors.

In the distance

the indistinctive roar

paws

devours

and plunders

and at its heels

the will

to succeed

will vanquish

the burning

heart

of the beast.