FIRE

Earth begins to shake.
It creaks a sustained roar
Howling, the blistered surface.
Go no further.
As night falls, days or weeks continue.
Lumps of scum from the jigsaw,
Sixty million created a line.
A fracture developed
Wider,
Dragged.
Descend again beneath
A mountainous range
Catastrophe,
Severity floated on the surface.

The loudest noise ever to echo
Heard quite distinctly.
Deeply buried.
Beautiful.
Steam and smoke
Just circumstances,
Gushing complex molecules that span time.

Worms clustering, a dense and varied colony in the darkness.
Complex, remarkable living tissue.

Parents
Enough to survive
The dwindling heat.
Ferocious battalions march over this parade ground.
Gales crouch at your feet
Isolated as any in the world.
Dispersed, hostile creatures exploit it:
Ingenious -

On the contrary
The young scamper away.
An artificial incubator cools sterile rocks.
Pioneering invasions conserve water
Evaporating rays of the sun,
Linger dark and humid.

Many have lost their eyes
Squander their resources
Over generations.
The blackness.