Formerly "Kiluea to Sea"
Holei Pali Ridge, Volcano National Park, Hawaii
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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