This is my third sonnet – inspired by long hot summer days when the hot wind carries with it    
     the ever present threat of the holocaust of a major bushfire.    

;

Bushfire

Tall trees that reach up to the sky

Their mighty trunks untangled, straight

Hold up the leaves that grow and wait

For summer when its hot and dry

Then oils within the leaves expand

Till vapour, hot and volatile

Seeps through the air and in a while

It shrouds the treetops and the land

Then just a flame, one tiny spark

And all the oils at once ignite

The flames consume the leaves and bark

The smoke above turns day to night

The land is burnt, all black and stark

And we’re in awe of nature’s might.

©  Brian Langley   Dec. 2004

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