Fire on the Next Hill

/ Apple Hill Cottage

last night
a fiery orange light
glowed ferociously
on the next hill.
i thought the Blakers’
barn was burning.
(i left my warm bed and stepped outside for a better view.)

the flames
leaped into the black
and devoured the trees
of the horizon.
i thought the still-green leaves
in the valley between
will keep us safe.
(my husband joined me to witness the spectacle.)

then the triangle
of flames and fire
suddenly settled into
a sideways orange half moon.
61.2% rising ENE
at 11:16 p.m
i thought when has a half-moon-rising
ever been fire in the sky.
(we laughed at one more
2020 wildness.)

my skittish, sheepish
thoughts morphed like moonfire
into a silent prayer.
Lord of the moon, the sky, the earth,
protect us from fires raging
in the darkness
and turn them into
just a spectacular autumn moonrising
in the night sky.
(i slept the weighted, dreamless sleep of peace.)

16 thoughts on “Fire on the Next Hill”

  3. I am glad it turned out to be a beautiful fire colored moon and not real flames of fire. With all the fires that have been burning in places I was concerned when I first began reading this.

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  5. No doubt caused by the ash from the fires out here in California. One night we had a moon that seemed as if it came right out of Revelation 6:12. Add in days without the sun and unhealthy air quality and one begins to ponder the end times.

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    • Yes. We had high fog over a two day period that the weather people attributed to West Coast smoke…When will we realize that every action causes an equal or opposite reaction? Oh wait, isn’t that a law of physics! ;-)

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  6. This is absolutely beautiful. And yes, I felt like I was right there with you. I could feel the night air on my face. Thank you for sharing that sacred moment.

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  9. I think I might borrow this prayer for all the mean-spirited hate I see in my republican friends and family. “Lord protect us for the fires raging in the night…”

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