Wildfire!

Like a giant amoeba
Sending fiery pseudopods
Into the brown,dry forest
Engulfing submissive vegetation
Painting it red,now glowing white
Cooling to coal black,
In my wake I leave only
Charred,complete desolation.
Animals fleeing before my hot breath,
I grow ever larger uncontrollably
As firefighters with ant-like persistence
Marshal themselves at my periphery
Then steadily retreat before my fury.
Water-laden helicopters buzz me
Annoying me like gnats in summer
Around a picnicker's eyes.
Heat beyond belief I exhale.
The wind does not cool me
But fans me to new heights of fever.
As I swallow,then consume them
Timbers crackle and explode in protest
Hurling glowing rockets screaming
Through the dark thunderheads
Of smoke billowing above me.
Inexorably I travel onward.
Nothing can impede my appetite.
I am relentless, unmerciful.
Fear the living beast
That I have become!

Harry Edward Gilleland      08.21.01    printer friendly