The summer field on fire

The summer field on fire

It was nothing but a cigarette butt

tossed careless into summer grass

a spark that curled in silence

then caught the wind too fast

The field turned black with hunger

smoke rose against the sky

birds fled with injured wings

and the soil began to die

Men came with heavy faces

their hands and clothes all ash

hoses singing endless streams

against the furious crash

Two days they fought in circles

their bodies worn and sore

the fire laughed and lingered

always asking more

The ground was left in silence

a graveyard where wheat had grown

charred stalks bending inward

like crosses made of bone

The air still smelled of sorrow

long after flames had gone

a memory laid in smoke and dust

where green had once lived on

All from a single ember

that someone did not see

a careless hand in summer

that burned, what seemed forever.