Between the Smoke and the Ashes

Dedicated to the men and women who survived and the 3000 that died in the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 including two Americans
named Bonnie Jeanne Smithwick and Veronique "Bonnie" Nicole Bowers.

Between the Smoke and the Ashes

I gaze into mesmerizing flames
dancing over embers
and grey September ash
leading smoky seams
that flitter as rapid dreams

My eyes fixate on metal grate
tempered by violent heat
rising high convecting fire, burning like lava to a clink of rock
and oaken wood

with the flow of night
cool air numbs my face
frozen by reflection of flames, eyes refuse to suppress the images
of ancient cultures
and their ceremonial rite
to famed fictitious gods, fallen

under weight of heat
a glowing branch
blotched with fire scars
falls to splash
the ash like pillar plumes

and then another

consumed
with burning breath
coals changing colors
with the wind whispering
metaphors of life
of metamorphosis

yet between the smoke and the ashes
and the muffled explosions
my spirit escapes
with the plaintiff whistle of the night
wind through the tree tops

more sounds of change
for a nation under fire

and Bonnie too.