Pause For Poetry: Michael Hawkes /58

A Sunburned Sky

A poem by Michael Hawkes

October 17,  2023

Far to the north
Where ice once flowed
And bitter summer breezes blew,
Where every other day it snowed
And coldness was what people knew,
They woke one day in great surprise
To see the sun burn up the skies.

To the south,
A stone-dead river led
To the dried-up bed
Of a one-time lake
Where the fish, now dead,
Are devoured by hordes of flies.

Up, past the riverhead
Over the watershed,
Where bald eagles bred
One lonely raptor cries,
For a partner fled
From the fearsome dread
Of a sun that burns the skies.

In a far-off land
Filled flat with sand,
Lies a camel corpse
With melted eyes.
There, the oil beneath one’s feet
Waits to add to global heat
Under a sun that burns the skies.

Here in the city, we live in fear,
Overwhelmed by what we hear
Of all the reasons people die.
The “classic causes” one holds dear,
Plus, poisons in the atmosphere
And four horsemen drawing ever nearer
Under a sun that burns the sky.

4/10/23 – Hawkes

Feature image: PxHere

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