Sunrise

Sunrise
Sunrise on Sunset Beach

Thursday, January 6, 2011

The Harshest Art

Formerly "Kiluea to Sea"
Holei Pali Ridge, Volcano National Park, Hawaii
September 22, 2010; revised December 15, 2014 

Out of the mists of paradise
dark clouds descend over mountainside forests
to nurture the tight green tangle
binding earth, breathing life 
spilling down the flank of Kilauea

to a sterile serenity 
painted in layers of sea and cloud 
and light. Behold 
the fresh desolation –
steam pillars rise from a scorched horizon 

to shear the sky 
with gray waves 
of sulfur mist
over black pumice plains
far below.

Feel the fissured lava fields 
frozen mid-flow over terminal cliffs
where waves pound rock to rubble. 
Breathe deep the vague distress, 
the immense and indifferent aversion 

to life. But see the cracks
where sharp rock yields
to scattered patches of wind-whipped grass
        in soft tans 
like newborn down on weathered skin.

And see the sheltered depressions
where stunted succulents dare to flower
        golden yellow 
        and rosy pink
defiance.

Consider creation the harshest of arts:
birthed in violence
unleashed energies overwhelm 
        the meek
with a brusque shrug. But still

a spark, hidden in the hot 
        rock heart
lies latent, awaiting word 
to emerge and inherit a new age 
its own. And on that stage 

this deathly edge of frothing sea 
will be a tranquil black sand beach 
where sentient beings not yet dreamed 
may forge a spacious mind-scape 
and claim the grace of time. 


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