Morning Sky during Wildfire (N California)
Paradise Is Lost
The idyllic town in the foothills
watched a fearsome fire roar through the thirsty woods,
tear through canyons, leap streams and rivers.
The fiendish fire fueled by angry dry winds
opened the gates of Hell in Paradise.
Merciless were the flames.
Fiery embers rained down onto the town.
Brittle black trees dropped their ashy branches
onto smoldering smoking rooftops, spreading fire inside.
They feared fast-moving flames
might engulf them as they ran,
dragging along children,
dragging along the sick, the elderly.
People panicked, rushed to rescue photos,
piled pets into pickup trucks --
burning lungs, burning eyes, burning houses --
old narrow roads jammed with abandoned cars.
Run! Run from Hell’s fire. Escape!
Escape a dungeon horrible, on all sides round.
Terror-stricken falling wailing hot hot running running
as one great Furnace flam’d.
Many thousands escaped old Satan’s clutch.
For many more, bones and ashes smoldered.
Firefighters with their rescue dogs searched,
searched, rubble hot, while the still-living
faced another Hellish disaster – despair.
Sick from the black, polluted air,
blue skies a memory, morning sun burned red.
Too late it was to curse the drought,
too late to curse their God.
These poor people paid the terrible price
for the sins of us all against the earth,
their prayed-for rain coming too late.
So now, hold back your tears, your thoughts and prayers.
Resolve to better stewards be.
On earth, what we have sown, we now have wrought.
The west coast was on fire and Paradise is Lost.
Italics are lines from John Milton’s Paradise Lost
Nanci Woody works in pastels, oils, pen and pencil and is a photographer. She was a member of a co-op gallery in Old Sacramento, and her photos were displayed widely at American River College. Her photo “Supermoon” won the Juror’s Award in the Fine Arts Category at the California State Fair and won the Curator’s Award at the KVIE on-air auction. She is the author of two books, Tears and Trombones, an Award-winning novel, and There’s a Reason Flowers Are Not Gray , a poetry collection.
Her art has been shown in juried shows at the Effie Yeaw Nature Center, Blue Line Arts, General Gomez Art Gallery, Center for Contemporary Art in Sacramento, Palo Alto Arts Center and Art Festivals in Sun City Roseville.
The idyllic town in the foothills
watched a fearsome fire roar through the thirsty woods,
tear through canyons, leap streams and rivers.
The fiendish fire fueled by angry dry winds
opened the gates of Hell in Paradise.
Merciless were the flames.
Fiery embers rained down onto the town.
Brittle black trees dropped their ashy branches
onto smoldering smoking rooftops, spreading fire inside.
They feared fast-moving flames
might engulf them as they ran,
dragging along children,
dragging along the sick, the elderly.
People panicked, rushed to rescue photos,
piled pets into pickup trucks --
burning lungs, burning eyes, burning houses --
old narrow roads jammed with abandoned cars.
Run! Run from Hell’s fire. Escape!
Escape a dungeon horrible, on all sides round.
Terror-stricken falling wailing hot hot running running
as one great Furnace flam’d.
Many thousands escaped old Satan’s clutch.
For many more, bones and ashes smoldered.
Firefighters with their rescue dogs searched,
searched, rubble hot, while the still-living
faced another Hellish disaster – despair.
Sick from the black, polluted air,
blue skies a memory, morning sun burned red.
Too late it was to curse the drought,
too late to curse their God.
These poor people paid the terrible price
for the sins of us all against the earth,
their prayed-for rain coming too late.
So now, hold back your tears, your thoughts and prayers.
Resolve to better stewards be.
On earth, what we have sown, we now have wrought.
The west coast was on fire and Paradise is Lost.
Italics are lines from John Milton’s Paradise Lost
Nanci Woody works in pastels, oils, pen and pencil and is a photographer. She was a member of a co-op gallery in Old Sacramento, and her photos were displayed widely at American River College. Her photo “Supermoon” won the Juror’s Award in the Fine Arts Category at the California State Fair and won the Curator’s Award at the KVIE on-air auction. She is the author of two books, Tears and Trombones, an Award-winning novel, and There’s a Reason Flowers Are Not Gray , a poetry collection.
Her art has been shown in juried shows at the Effie Yeaw Nature Center, Blue Line Arts, General Gomez Art Gallery, Center for Contemporary Art in Sacramento, Palo Alto Arts Center and Art Festivals in Sun City Roseville.
