A volcano erupts in fiery passion,

A boiling rage deep in its core

Comes to the surface in spitting rage

Breaking the earth and forcing it into the sky

A billowing cloud of smoke and lightning

Its dazzling, deadly display takes the sound from every living tongue

As bird and beast alike are slowly engulfed by its molten blood

A massive bomb causing rocks to scream through the air

Angry fireworks that shower onlookers with deadly heat

A chaotic god of war with Machiavellian passion

Terror reigns as powdery ash

Toxic dust that sticks to every surface

And lingers in the air

Reminding all it touches

Of what horrors happened there

A shadow spreads across the earth 

Farmers still in their fields

Children at their play

A silence

Like death

Foretells the future

Flowers bow their heads, grey and old in the gloom

As all living things shrink into their homes

Dark as tombs

Awaiting the next explosion

 

One dreaming child cannot sit still upon his mother’s knees

He wants to leave, to feel the wind against his cheeks

To taste the summer air that was so cruelly ripped from his lungs

He cannot sit in the suffocating stillness

He refuses to shrink from the world like a ghost

To abandon his plans to climb trees and race through the park

To befriend the girl two seats away in science class

To jump on his bed when his mother goes out

He opens the door but cannot see

His little candle barely tickles the oppressing night

 

In front of him another light comes into view

Curious he ventures into the darkness

Others follow until the whole neighborhood is outside

Drawn like moths to a flame

The faces are blurred and indistinct but it doesn’t matter

The sky is black but light shines into the night

Hand in hand they stand

A light against the inky backdrop of the sky

Hope in a world of fear

 

When volcanos erupt they bring in their wake

 Unbelievable acts of violence

And a choice

Will we stand up together

Or crumble apart

Will we have faith

Or give up hope

Will we hold on to our values, lifelines of truth

Or let hatred turn aside our beliefs

Will we receive the destitute with open arms

Or close our boarders and our hearts

Will we hold each other suspect

Or recognize each other as brothers

Held under by the same dark hand

Drowning us in our collective pool of tears

Shrouding us in the same volcanic winter