[Newspoetry] Wind and Fire and Rain

[DL Emerick]

wind and Fire and Rain

The elemental dust stirs,
swirls and whirls,
as wind gusts by it,
lifts it, sifts it,
leaves it shimmering in the air,
before it drifts back down,
depositing itself anew
on top of itself,
mote by mote,
until the air is cleared again.

Wind brings the rarest rain,
randomly, down on the dust,
splashing up the powder,
until it melts into mud,
the water rises and covers
the flat lands of dust made mud,
a lake shallow and brief covers all,
but slowly seeps away,
as the thirst of dust is never quenched.

Sun returns to shine,
its fire bake dries the mud,
as it crumbles and collapses,
dust returns from its unity,
and resumes its waiting posture,
reacting to natural forces,
in a cycle little varied.

Even a footprint in the dust,
here in the desert,
there on the moon,
leaves little of its impact,
its significance misunderstood,
its meaning indecipherable,
for the dust recalls nothing.

A pride of lions ventures out,
finds footprints in the dust,
heeds their direction,
and settles, patiently,
waiting for its prey
to wander mindlessly back,
unaware of deadly dangers
ever lurking in placid dust.

Would you feel lucky, then,
to come on the scene of dust,
wind and rain and fire made,
hunter or the hunted,
with just the camera's eye
to preserve the scene?